Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark came into Sunday’s Senior Day matchup against No. 2 Ohio State needing only 18 points to break the NCAA Division-1 scoring record held by Pete Maravich. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take too long for her to have her moment and solidify herself as one of the greatest college basketball players of all time.
This game is not only important for Clark individually, but also for Iowa as a team. Beating a team ranked as highly as Ohio State would be a pretty huge statement to the rest of college basketball that Iowa is a team to watch out for ahead of the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Clark wasted no time making her presence known in this contest, making four three-point shots in the first half. She was able to celebrate her big moment at the very end of the second quarter, taking advantage of a pretty questionable technical foul on Ohio State to make her way to the free-throw line with under a second left before halftime.
She would go on to make two free throws, one to tie the record and the second to ultimately break it and carve her name into the NCAA record books.
Fans took to social media to congratulate Clark for her special moment.
Clark spoke to Fox sideline reporter Allison Williams at halftime to discuss her new record, detailing that she knew she broke the record once she heard the ovation from the fans in attendance.
“When they announced it and everybody screamed, that’s when I knew,” said Clark. “Pretty cool, I think we can do a little better job on defense and clean it up a little bit. But proud of our girls. We’re fighting and they are a really good team. They are going to give us everything they’ve got.”
Clark clearly appeared to be focused on the game at hand instead of the record. But after the game, it should sink in that she is now the most prolific scorer in the history of college basketball regardless of gender.
Iowa took a 48-39 lead into the half. And Clark can now focus solely on the rest of the game without the pressure of the record on her back.