Clark is No. 1 in Div. 1 after passing Maravich
IOWA CITY — Caitlin Clark stood alone at the free throw line Sunday and made the shots that left her standing alone atop the all-time NCAA Division 1 scoring chart.
The two free throws after a technical foul pushed Clark past the late Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record in No. 6 Iowa’s 93-83 win over No. 2 Ohio State.
Clark entered the game needing 18 points to pass Maravich’s total of 3,667, amassed in just 83 games over three seasons at LSU (1967-70). She finished with 35 to run her total to 3,685 in 130 games.
Maravich’s mark fell four days after Clark broke Lynette Woodard’s major college women’s record when she scored 33 points against Minnesota on Wednesday.
Woodard was among the attendees at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to help Clark celebrate senior day. Also on hand were basketball great Maya Moore, who was Clark’s favorite player, and baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan.
“Just to be in the same realm of all these players who have been so successful, whether it’s Pete or Kelsey Plum or
Lynette Woodard — all these people have just given so much to the game,” Clark said. “Hopefully somebody comes after me and breaks my records and I can be there supporting them.”
Clark, best known for her long 3-pointers, was called on to go to the line after Cotie McMahon got a technical for giving her a little push during a dead ball with less than a second to go in the first half.
Clark had no immediate reaction after the second shot went through, as if it hadn’t sunk in yet. She said she knew the record had fallen only after it was announced.
She said it didn’t matter to her that she made history with two free throws rather than a half-court logo 3-pointer.
“I guess I’m just glad to make free throws,” she said. “That’s like the hardest thing to do in basketball is to make free throws with nobody [around you] at the free throw line.”
She had gotten off to a slow start Sunday. Her first shot was a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim. She missed a layup and from deep on the right wing before making a 3 from the left side for her first basket.
After starting 2 for 7, she made three straight 3s, each deeper than the previous.
Pearl Moore of Francis Marion owns the overall women’s record with 4,061 points from 1975-79 at the small-college level in the AIAW. Moore had 177 points at Anderson Junior College before enrolling at Francis Marion.
Clark is 376 points behind Moore, and she has only two to nine more games left for Iowa depending on how far the Hawkeyes advance in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
On Thursday, Clark announced she would enter the 2024 WNBA draft and skip the fifth year of eligibility available to athletes who competed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fall of Maravich’s record is subject to scrutiny.
Maravich’s all-time scoring mark is one of the more remarkable in sports history. There was no shot clock or 3point line in his era. The 3point line was adopted in 1986.
Maravich averaged 44.2 points per game. He scored more than 60 in a game four times. Clark averages 28.3 points for her career. Her career-best output was 49 points against Michigan on Feb. 15, when she passed Kelsey Plum as the NCAA women’s Division 1 career scoring leader.