Caitlin Clark’s chase for the NCAA women’s all-time scoring record will continue for at least another game.
The Iowa guard finished Sunday’s game at Nebraska just shy of breaking the record, now needing only eight points to surpass former Washington star Kelsey Plum’s mark of 3,527 points. Clark is all but ensured of setting the record at home Thursday against Michigan. She entered the game against the Cornhuskers needing 39 to pass Plum points but finished with 31 points in Nebraska’s 82–79 upset victory.
If not in Iowa City, Lincoln would have been an almost fitting place for Clark to set the record. She entered Sunday with 287 career points against Nebraska, the most she has tallied against any single opponent. In her eight prior meetings against them, she had never scored fewer than 30 points.
“There’s not been a women’s basketball player who has captured the imagination of all sports fans,” longtime Nebraska radio play-by-play announcer Matt Coatney told The Athletic. “Husker fans recognize that. They may not completely like her, but there’s some begrudging respect.”
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Nebraska sold out the game against Iowa weeks ago, the first for a women’s basketball game in the 11-year history of the 15,500-seat Pinnacle Bank Arena. Then, right from the start, Clark made her presence felt. Although she missed her first 3-point attempt, she scored on Iowa’s third possession and its subsequent possession too. Clark ended the first quarter with seven points. She finished the first half with 17 points and seven assists, one of which gave her 1,000 for her career and made her one of just six players ever to reach that plateau.
The Cornhuskers remained in striking distance, however, and trailed by only 4 heading into the locker room.
While Iowa pushed its lead to 14 heading into the fourth quarter, Nebraska, led by guard Jaz Shelley and center Alexis Markowski, opened the period on a 10-2 run. While holding Clark scoreless for the entirety of the period, — Sunday marked the first time Clark has played an entire fourth quarter and not scored — the Cornhuskers ended up taking their first lead with 32 seconds to play when Shelley knocked down a 3-pointer. Nebraska would close the game on a 12-2 run in the final 3:10 to pull off the major upset.
With five seconds remaining, Clark missed her final 3-pointer of the day, setting off a euphoric scene in Lincoln. Fans stormed the court as the Cornhuskers defeated the Hawkeyes for the first time since December 2019.
Shelley led her team with 23 points, and five assists, while Markowski recorded a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Clark’s next opportunity will come against the Wolverines, another program she’s had significant success against. In four games against Michigan, Clark has averaged 34.8 points and 8.2 assists on 55.6 percent shooting from the field. It’s a safe bet that history will be made sometime after 8 p.m. ET when the game tips off. And although gameplay did not stop when Clark became the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer in late January — “Honestly, I didn’t even know at what point it occurred,” Clark said afterward — expect a deserving ovation from Carver-Hawkeye Arena if she makes history.
“It’s nice to have something that people can be happy about and joyful about,” coach Lisa Bluder said last month about Clark’s record chase.
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(Photo: Steven Branscombe / Getty Images)
