Caitlin Clark’s pursuit of history reached its successful conclusion on Thursday night. The fourth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes played host to the Michigan Wolverines, with the reigning National Player of the Year needing only eight points to surpass Kelsey Plum’s NCAA women’s basketball scoring record.
Clark managed to get that right away, as she scored the first eight points of Iowa’s game against the Wolverines. She managed to break the record by pulling up from well beyond the three-point line and drilling a triple.
CAITLIN CLARK HAS DONE IT.
She’s now the NCAA women’s all-time scoring leader! pic.twitter.com/N3qhSavaA4
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) February 16, 2024
Plum set the record in 2017 during her senior year as a member of the Washington Huskies. The Las Vegas Aces star and former No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft accrued 3,527 points in her decorated collegiate career.
Clark came close to breaking the record during Iowa’s last game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. She entered the game needing 39 points to surpass Plum, and while she managed to score 31 through the first three quarters, the Husker defense threw everything it had at Clark and held her scoreless in the fourth en route to an upset. This did, however, make it so Clark was able to set the record on her own home floor at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, although she did have one request about the occasion.
“I hope they don’t stop the game,” Clark said, according to Cassandra Negley of Yahoo Sports. “We can’t be wasting timeouts on that, come on now.”