Iowa guard Caitlin Clark became Division I’s all-time leading scorer for both men’s and women’s basketball on Sunday, passing LSU legend Pete Maravich, during a 93-83 win over No. 2 Ohio State in a Big Ten game at Iowa City, Iowa.
Clark entered the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes’ meeting with the Buckeyes needing 18 points to set the record. She accomplished the feat in the first half, breaking the mark with a pair of free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining until intermission.
Maravich scored 3,667 points from 1967-70. Clark’s total sits at 3,685 after she put up 35 points on Sunday. She also had nine assists and six rebounds.
“It’s like really crazy to think about,” Clark said of passing Maravich. “Honestly, if you would have told me that before my college career started, I would have laughed in your face and (said) ‘no, you’re insane.’ ”
It has been a historic season for Clark, who became the all-time leading scorer in Division I women’s basketball when she scored 49 points against Michigan on Feb. 15 to dethrone Kelsey Plum. Plum amassed 3,527 points at Washington from 2013-17.
Less than two weeks later, Clark posted 33 points against Minnesota to pass Kansas’ Lynette Woodard for the major-college women’s scoring record. Woodard had 3,649 points from 1977-81, when the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women had oversight of women’s college sports — not the NCAA.
“Just to be in the realm of all these players who have been so successful, whether it is Pete or Kelsey Plum or Lynette Woodard, all these people, have just given so much to the game,” Clark said. “Hopefully somebody comes after me and can break my records and I can be there supporting them.”
Clark announced Thursday that she will not be returning to Iowa for a fifth season, declaring for the 2024 WNBA Draft.
–Field Level Media
