Caitlin Clark now owns the all-time NCAA women’s scoring record, but in many ways, the do-it-all Iowa superstar already stands alone.
The 22-year-old senior claimed the scoring crown Thursday, passing Kelsey Plum’s historic mark with her eighth point of the night against Michigan and the 3,528th point of her incredible four-year career. She finished with a career-high 49 points in Iowa’s 106-89 win.
The 6-foot Clark can now create some separation with the rest of the field — and pursue a few more records — with six regular season games, the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament still ahead of her this season.
Here is a deeper dive, by the numbers, into Clark’s stellar stats.
8: That’s how many points Clark needed to pass Plum. Clark had a chance to do it Sunday, when she put up 31 points through three quarters at Nebraska, but was surprisingly held scoreless during the fourth quarter of an upset loss.
3,527: Plum, who starred at Washington from 2014-17, totaled 3,527 collegiate points, which stood as the NCAA women’s record for nearly seven years.
3,667: Clark is also in prime position to surpass the overall NCAA scoring record of 3,667 points, which Pete Maravich set from 1967-70 at LSU. Clark entered Thursday only 147 points behind Maravich. If she maintains her current scoring rate of 32.1 points per game, Clark would pass Pistol Pete in five games.
53: That’s how many 30-point games Clark has recorded over her four-season career — a feat that includes 16 such performances this year. Clark already owns the record for most 30-point performances, having eclipsed Plum’s previous high mark of 38 in November.
1: Clark became the first player in NCAA Tournament history, men’s or women’s, to deliver a 40-point triple-double during last spring’s Elite Eight win over Louisville. She followed that up with a 41-point explosion in a Final Four win over previously undefeated South Carolina, making Clark the first player ever to record back-to-back 40-point games in an NCAA Tournament.
6: A scoreless fourth quarter in Sunday’s upset loss to Nebraska prevented Clark from setting the scoring record a little earlier, though she did achieve a major milestone in that game. She dished out her 1,000th career assist, making her the sixth player in NCAA women’s history to do so.
15: Clark’s 15 career triple-doubles rank second in NCAA women’s history, trailing only the 26 recorded by current Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu during her standout career at Oregon. Four of those triple-doubles came this season for Clark, whose 32.1 points and 8.3 assists per game lead the NCAA to go along with 7.0 rebounds per game.
49: Thursday night marked a career-high in points for Clark, topping her 46, which she scored as a sophomore on the road against Michigan in February 2022. Clark boasts 12 40-point performances in her career, including a 45-point outburst in a road loss at Ohio State last month.
3,403: In scoring the 3,403th point of her career in late January at Northwestern, Clark passed Ohio State great Kelsey Mitchell to set the Big Ten women’s record.
497: Clark could soon topple another milestone owned by Mitchell, whose 497 made 3-pointers remain an NCAA women’s record. Clark entered Thursday with 478 made 3-pointers — 19 shy of Mitchell’s mark. Clark averages 5.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, putting her on track to pass Mitchell in four games.
