Iowa’s Clark will skip her final year, enter WNBA Draft
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who is on the verge of becoming the all-time NCAA scoring leader in college basketball, announced Thursday that she will will leave the Hawkeyes after this season and enter the WNBA Draft.
“While this season is far from over and we have a lot more goals to achieve, it will be my last one at Iowa,” Clark wrote in a post on the X social media platform. She thanked her teammates, coaches and the thousands of fans who have packed arenas across the country to watch her and the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes.
Clark emerged as a focal point for women’s basketball, with her flashy play and 3-point shot, often from the on-court logo. Many players would have been benched for shooting from so far out, but Clark had the green light from her coach and she has delivered while also finding her teammates and hitting the boards.
The guard, with one more year of eligibility, 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 in a 108-60 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night.
That game drew a sellout crowd of more than 14,000 at Williams Arena, the 11th sellout in 11 true road games this season for the Hawkeyes.
Clark also broke the NCAA single-season record by making 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).
“I’m just really thankful and grateful to have those players who have come before me. Yeah, it’s super special. Obviously she’s one of the best all-time,” Clark said after Wednesday’s performance. “It just still shows the room that we have to improve, and where women’s sports is going is a really great place.”
Next up is the overall NCAA scoring record of Pete Maravich, who is just 17 points ahead of her.
NO. 20 OKLAHOMA 71, NO. 3 TEXAS 70 >> Lexy Keys hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4 seconds left to help the Sooners upset the Longhorns and clinch the outright Big 12 title.
NO. 2 OHIO STATE 67, MICHIGAN 51 >> Jacy Sheldon scored 22 points to lead the Buckeyes to their 15th straight win and the Big Ten regular-season title.
NO. 10 UCONN 67, VILLANOVA 46 >> Paige Bueckers scored 31 points and Aaliyah Edwards added her 16th double-double of the season as the Huskies improved to 17-0 in Big East play.
IOWA STATE 82, NO. 15 KANSAS STATE 76 >> Addy Brown had 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Cyclones won on the road and became the first team this season to shoot 50% against the Wildcats.
Men's highlights
NO. 10 DUKE 84, LOUISVILLE 59 >> Kyle Filipowski, back in the starting lineup four days after sustaining a knee injury when fans stormed the court, had nine points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Blue Devils. Freshman Jared McCain (Centennial High) added 14 points as Duke (22-6, 13-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) won for the sixth time in seven games. NO. 4 TENNESSEE 92, NO. 11 AUBURN 84 >> Dalton Knecht matched his career high with 39 points, including 27 in the second half, to lift the Volunteers. Tennessee (22-6, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) trailed 63-55 before Knecht took over the game, scoring 11 straight points and 20 of 23.
NO. 6 ARIZONA 85, ARIZONA STATE 67 >> Kylan Boswell (Centennial High) scored 17 points, and Oumar Ballo had 14 points and 13 rebounds as the Wildcats pulled away for the win in Tempe.