With her announcement that she will be entering the WNBA draft following this season, Caitlin Clark played her final home game as a Hawkeye Monday night, defeating West Virginia 65-54 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in her career.
Hawkeyes outlast Mountaineers in a de facto senior night
Although she struggled from the field, Clark was able to finish the night with 32 points and eight boards, including some clutch free throws to close out the game. Iowa struggled on the offensive end all night as WVU’s smothering defense, third in the nation at forcing turnovers, forced Iowa into 15 team turnovers and 36.2% from the field.
Some late-game drama was in order, as the Mountaineers went on a 10-0 run early in the fourth to tie the game, but near-perfect shooting from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter (14-17), including nine straight from Clark and Hannah Stuelke, secured the win for the Hawkeyes.
Taking home one more record as she goes
Monday night against WVU, another record was broken in Carver-Hawkeye arena. Clark sank two free throws to break Kelsey Plum‘s single-season NCAA Division I scoring record of 1,109. Clark currently has 1,113 points and will continue to build on the record for the rest of the tournament.
Season of sellouts, she even broke attendance records
The “Caitlin Clark effect” was in full swing this season, as the Iowa Women’s basketball team sold out every single game this season for the first time in program history. Prior to this season, women’s basketball had only ever sold out three regular-season games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, one of which was the last game of the 2022-2023 season.
With the Round of 64 and the Round of 32 both being played on the home court of the higher-seeded team, Holy Cross and West Virginia were fighting a sold-out crowd. Clark finished her college career with a 49-12 home record at Iowa. This is an especially impressive record when you factor in that five of those losses came when Clark was a freshman.
Big-time players make big-time plays
From buzzer-beating shots to shattering records, Clark has had some of the biggest moments of her career in Iowa City, Iowa. Feeling the electricity of the sold-out crowds and using it as fuel is a major factor in her game.
“I’ve always been one to play to the crowd,” Clark said. “That’s what I kind of do — an entertainer, in a way. I always want to get the crowd going.”
Clark left Carver-Hawkeye a winner one last time, with the hopes to return home a champion.
One of the coolest moments in college basketball history occurred at a special spot that Iowa forever engrained on their court. The spot where Clark broke the record for most points in an entire women’s collegiate career, which was also previously held by Kelsey Plum.
Taking down Pistol Pete
The most impressive moment of them all was when she broke a record that many thought would be unbeatable: Pete Maravich’s record for most points in a D1 career, men’s or women’s basketball.
As if it was planned by the basketball gods, she stood alone, shooting a free throw for a technical foul, with no one even on the same half of the court as her — symbolic of the way she stands alone on the mountaintop of college basketball.
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