During Caitlin Clark’s three-plus seasons at Iowa, she has frequently sprinted toward, and past, whatever is in front of her. Often, that means blowing by defenders en route to layups at the rim. Sometimes, she dashes around screens and away from opponents to create space for catch-and-shoot 3s. Since the start of the season, Clark has had her eye on chasing former Washington star Kelsey Plum’s NCAA women’s basketball scoring record of 3,527 points. “(She was) coming in ready to bust it down,” Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder told the Big Ten Network last week. “This hasn’t been a burden to her.”
Leading into No. 4 Iowa’s contest Thursday against Michigan, Clark had averaged a nation-leading 33.8 points through her last five games. History didn’t seem to weigh on her.
Time and again, as Clark passed opponents on the court and contemporaries in the record book, she elevated from 3 and rose to the occasion. As she became the NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer on Thursday, she did so in a 49-point outing, setting a new career-high and Iowa record in the process. Now, holding the NCAA scoring title with 3,569 points, her chase to the top will be remembered for her sheer dominance and unmatched consistency. “What she’s done to uplift our program…
