Clark adds to accolades with Big Ten tournament honors
For the third consecutive year, Caitlin Clark was named the Big Ten tournament’s most outstanding player. The feat matches Ohio State’s Jantel Lavender, who did the same for the Buckeyes from 2009-11.
Clark shook off a slow start in the March 10 championship game against Nebraska to score 34 points to go along with 12 assists and seven rebounds.
Clark had 28 points and 15 assists in the Hawkeyes’ 95-68 domination of Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals, and she opened the tournament with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in Iowa’s 95-62 beating of Penn State.
The NCAA all-time scoring leader was named Big Ten Player of the Year last week, her third consecutive year winning the honor in what has been a historic season. Clark was also named a unanimous firstteam All-Big Ten selection.
There was no question about who would be named the conference’s top player of the season, especially when she was named the conference player of the week 11 times this year. She has received that honor 29 times in her career, the most in Big Ten history. Clark also became the first back-to-back-to-back recipient of the honor since Ohio State’s Lavender in 2008-10.
This season, Clark has averaged a Division I high 31.9 points and 8.9 assists per game and became the first person in Big Ten history to make more than 500 career 3-pointers. She also has the Big Ten career assists and field goals made record.
She is the only NCAA women’s basketball player in history to lead her conference in scoring and assists in four straight seasons. To top it off, she broke the women’s scoring record and all-time NCAA scoring record, capped off by her passing Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record of 3,667 career points in her final home game for the Hawkeyes.