A sea of fans in yellow and black erupts in the resounding cheer characteristic of Caitlin Clark’s reign over Iowa City, the Carver-Hawkeye arena and the world of college basketball. Only this time, the cheers are louder and rooted in a whole new level of meaning because Clark has just accomplished an expected but unparalleled feat: she has broken the all-time NCAA women’s basketball scoring record.
Clark, a University of Iowa senior and Des Moines native, has spent the last few months captivating the attention of basketball fans alongside those who rarely, if ever, concern themselves with athletic happenings. Her popularity comes as no shock to those that have intently followed her journey through the basketball ranks. Quickly finding herself in the sports world limelight, Clark’s story is not defined by the typical trials and tribulations that often tend to lend themself to success. In fact, her record of impeccable play predates even her glorious college days.
In high school, she led the Dowling Catholic High School basketball team to multiple successes. A five-star recruit and the 2020 Gatorade National Player of the Year, Clark’s talent shone through in each and every game. An instinctively smart and strategic athlete, she has been an asset to the Hawkeyes since she set foot on court her freshman year.
As a rookie, she debuted her college career strong as the top scorer in the first game she played for Iowa. Merely seven days later, she played a 30-point game: the first of the 52 that would lead her to hold the NCAA record for the most times an individual player scored 30 points in separate games. As the number of games Clark played increased, so did the points she scored in each of them. Clark’s legendary status could fuel itself on points alone. Being a dynamic team member, however, her numbers in the assist category are similarly astounding with a career-high of 18 assists against the Penn State Nittany Lions during Clark’s sophomore year. She achieved an initial career high of 46 points in a singular game a month later.
While Clark’s underclassman days are riddled with successes and enthralling plays, her career as an upperclassman has been similarly impressive. In the first month of her junior season, she reached a total of 2,000 points and did so faster than any other NCAA women’s basketball player save for Elena Delle Donne of the University of Delaware. Leading Iowa to and through the Big Ten Championship with ease, Clark cemented herself as the Hawkeyes’ backbone. After another 30-point game in last year’s National Championship but an unfortunate loss for Iowa, a lighthearted skirmish between Clark and LSU’s talented Angel Reese thrust Clark into the social media zeitgeist. The media tried to pit Clark and Reese against each other as Reese mockingly indicated Clark would not be leaving the American Airlines Center with a championship ring.
However, Clark would be back for more.
In the wake of her senior season, ticket sales for Iowa games skyrocketed, and crowds flocked to watch the phenom who has undoubtedly defined this era in sports. A mere exhibition game against DePaul University drew in 55,456 people: a new record for a women’s basketball audience. Before becoming the NCAA women’s basketball high scorer, she became Iowa’s leading historical scorer and the second-quickest college basketball player to reach 3,000 points. Then came the feat of 1,000 assists. And now, the pinnacle (but not the end) of Clark’s success story has arrived in the 126th game of her college career against the Michigan Wolverines.
Clark needed 8 points to break the scoring record. She scored 49. Now, Caitlin Clark holds the title of the No. 1 scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history.
With the record previously belonging to the University of Washington and current Las Vegas Ace player Kelsey Plum, Clark’s future looks as bright as ever. Already having cemented herself as one of “the greats,” Clark is now “the great” with 3,543 points to her name. Though she has not yet clarified an intention to join the WNBA draft, she exists among the phenomenal women in sports who give young girls pursuing athletics role models to look up to. On the level of figures like Erin Matson, Simone Biles and Mia Hamm, she is one of many women pushing records and boundaries in their respective fields (or courts).
More than anything, Clark embodies the necessity of women in sports and reaffirms the importance of Title IX: the legislation that safeguards gender equality in academic programs or activities. Varsity Girls Basketball Captain Zoe Hort (V) echoed this sentiment when she described the impact Clark and other women in basketball have had on her. Hort detailed, “I think that a lot of people focus on NBA players much more, so then when you see great women playing [basketball], it gives you a lot of inspiration because you’re looking at people like you. It’s good to see women succeed in the sports industry.”
One point at a time, Clark will continue to succeed for herself, in turn making space for every girl and woman in sports to succeed right alongside her.
