Iowa's Clark stands alone

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark became the all-time leading women’s scorer in major college basketball by scoring 33 points to pass Lynette Woodard and post her 17th career triple-double for sixth-ranked Iowa in a 108-60 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night.

Clark also broke the NCAA single-season record by sinking eight 3-pointers for a total of 156 in 2023-24. She now has 3,650 career points. Woodard had 3,649 points for Kansas from 1977-81, before the NCAA sanctioned the sport. Earlier this month, Clark broke Kelsey Plum’s NCAA scoring record (3,527 points).

Gabbie Marshall scored 16 points to pass the career 1,000-point mark for the Hawkeyes (25-4, 14-3), who were eliminated from contention for the Big Ten regular season title earlier in the evening when second-ranked Ohio State beat Michigan.

Amaya Battle had 18 points for the Gophers (15-13, 5-12) on a tough night of trying to guard the reigning AP Player of the Year Clark, who went 8 for 14 from 3-point range to delight the Hawkeyes-heavy crowd of more than 14,000 at Williams Arena. This was the 11th sellout in 11 true road games this season for Clark and her crew.

Clark left little doubt she’d reach Woodard’s record by dribbling left off a screen and swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the key just 13 seconds into the game. She swished her first four 3-pointers, three of them from extra deep, and had 15 points in the first 3:18 of the game.

The heat check came midway through the first quarter, a flick from the top that bounced off the back rim and prompted a half-hearted “Overrated!” chant from a few wise guys in the Minnesota student section.

The previous biggest crowd for a Gophers game this season was on Nov. 19 against Connecticut with star Paige Bueckers, a native of Minnesota, that drew 10,869 fans. That’s the only other home attendance figure for the Gophers in 2023-24 greater than 6,000.

UP NEXT

Iowa: Hosts No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday. The Hawkeyes are tied with Indiana for second place and would win the tiebreaker over the Hoosiers for the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament next week. Indiana wraps up the regular season against Maryland on Sunday.

Minnesota: Plays at Penn State on Sunday.