Caitlin Clark is back at it again with more history-making — this time by securing a Big Ten record on her way to becoming the NCAA's all-time scoring leader.
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With a made layup in the second quarter of Iowa's dominant 110-74 win against Northwestern on Wednesday night, Clark scored her 3,403 career point; making her the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer among women's players.
Caitlin Clark becomes the Big Ten WBB all-time scoring leader and 2nd all-time highest scorer in NCAA WBB history, passing Kelsey Mitchell. Only one more to go. 🐐👑💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/TBoZ27aKjD
— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) February 1, 2024
In reaching that milestone, Clark surpassed the career scoring clip of Ohio State legend Kelsey Mitchell, who finished her college career in 2018 and is now playing for the Indiana Fever — and therefore might be Clark's teammate next season, if the Iowa star decides to go pro.
Since Mitchell had been second all-time in NCAA women's scoring behind Kelsey Plum, the current record-holder, Clark has now taken over that #2 spot — and appears poised to take Plum's record in the coming weeks.
After the game, Clark was asked what setting the Big Ten women's scoring record meant to her — to which she said, "The coolest thing is just the names I get to be around. Those are people I grew up watching, especially Brittney Griner, Kelsey Mitchell, those are really, really good players, people that are still playing our game at the very highest level, people that you watch night in and night out. Just special for me to be in the same area as them."
Clark finished the Hawkeyes win on Wednesday with 35 points — her fifth straight 30+ point game — while also recording 10 assists. By the night's end, Clark had 3,424 career points; putting her 103 shy of Plum's current record of 3,527.
Assuming that Clark can maintain her current 32.1 points per game average, she will become the NCAA all-time women's scorer on Super Bowl Sunday (February 11th), when her Hawkeyes face Nebraska on the road. Considering that Iowa has five more regular season games after that Nebraska contest — not to mention any postseason play — Clark appears all-but guaranteed to surpass Plum this month.
Clark also seems likely to become the NCAA's all-time scoring leader, regardless of gender. She is currently 264 points away from the current record, held by LSU legend Pete Maravich. If Clark can maintain her current scoring average, she would overtake Maravich during the first game of the Big Ten tournament, on March 6th.
Be sure to keep an eye on Clark over the next month.
