Caitlin Clark’s quest to break Pete Maravich’s NCAA scoring record: How many games left until Iowa star makes his mark?

After Caitlin Clark’s record-setting night against Michigan last week, the NCAA women’s leading scorer was scheduled to be back on the ground.

Clark and No. 4 Iowa played on the road against No. 14 Indiana that Thursday, with the Hoosiers defeating the Hawkeyes 86-69. The Wood Trophy favorite finished a tough shooting night with 24 points on 8-of-26 shooting (3-of-16 from 3-point range), 10 rebounds, nine assists and two steals. She was held to just four points in the second half when the Hoosiers increased their lead.

Clark acknowledged after the game how difficult it was to get clean looks against Indiana’s rotating combination of defenders.

“Being physical, wearing a face guard, having different people thrown at me, yeah, I think it’s very physical,” Clark said. “They pushed me out of that place and took me a little deeper than I wanted.”

Clark was mostly held in check on Thursday, but he needs 75 points in the remaining three games of the regular season (home vs. Illinois, home vs. Minnesota, home vs. Ohio State) to break Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record.

With the loss, Iowa State trails Indiana in the Big Ten standings, 12-3. The Hoosiers are 13-3, with No. 2 Ohio State leading the conference at 14-1.

The Continuing Pursuit of Caitlin Clark’s History

Caitlin Clark wrote a storybook on her way to becoming the NCAA Division I women’s all-time leading scorer. That mark, which she carved with her characteristic deep “Logo 3”, was held by Kelsey Plum during her seven years.

The next milestone for Iowa’s superstar point guard has been within reach for decades. Although they are tied to his two basketball legends, their place in the history books is vastly different.

Lynette Woodard is the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) large school record holder and is considered the all-time scoring leader for collegiate women. She scored 3,649 points at Kansas during the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the AIAW ruled women’s sports. The NCAA didn’t sponsor her until 1982, so she omitted most of her AIAW stats from the record books.

Pete Maravich became NCAA Division I’s all-time leading scorer with 3,667 points from 1967 to 1970. The LSU star played when the freshman was ineligible for varsity and without a 3-point line. His record is respected and was never challenged, although fifth-year guard Antwon Davis came within three points of it last March. No player, male or female, who plays in the traditional four-season window has matched or exceeded Mark’s pace.

After his historic record-breaking night in Iowa City, Clark reached 3,569 career points, moving him within 100 points of Woodard and Maravich.

Yahoo Sports follows Clark’s quest to become the NCAA all-time scoring record after the Iowa State game. If he stays for a fifth year, he will receive an additional year of eligibility. She is projected to be the Indiana Fever’s No. 1 pick if she chooses to enter the 2024 WNBA Draft in April.

[Game-by-game: How Clark took the NCAA DI women’s scoring record]

Iowa State’s remaining regular season games

Sunday: vs. Illinois (FS1, 1 p.m. ET)
Wednesday, February 28: Minnesota (Peacock, 9 p.m. ET)
Sunday, March 3 vs. Ohio State (FOX, 1 p.m. ET)

March 6-10: Big Ten Tournament
The University of Iowa, which is likely to be a top-four seed, will play up to three games starting with the quarterfinals on March 8th.

Clerk He has scored at least 20 points in every game this season. Her only single-digit appearance came in her 10th collegiate appearance (eight points against Northwestern) as a freshman. She had four 40-point or more performances as a senior and 12 times in her career, including setting a program record and her personal best with 49 points against Michigan, breaking her all-time scoring record. It is recorded.

Caitlin Clark’s recent scoring performance

Feb. 15: Iowa 106, Michigan 89 — 49 points (3,569 career points)

Clark needed eight points to reach the record, and he hit three shots in about two minutes to get there. She scored a career-high 49 points and also set an Iowa women’s program record and a Carver-Hawkeye Arena record, where men also play.

“It wasn’t my goal to finish really quickly, but [I] I took the first few shots. [and] We were able to get another one up pretty quickly,” Clark said. “I’m glad it ended pretty quickly so I could just move on a little bit and focus on the basketball game.”

It was one of her most effective performances of the year. She was 51.6% overall and her 3-point percentage was 50%. Her 18 point attempts were tied for her second-most this season, and her nine were tied for a career-high. She made all eight of her free throws.

The rest of her stat line was packed as well with 13 assists, 5 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Caitlin Clark can make more history

Clark’s 32.4 ppg was nearly five points better than her previous career high (27.8 ppg as a junior) and just below the single-season record of 33.6 ppg set by Mississippi Valley State’s Patricia Hoskins in 1989. There is. Her career total of 28.3 ppg could break Hoskins’ all-time record of 28.4 ppg from 1986-1989.

She could even break the 3-point record in the next two weeks. Taylor Pierce holds the records for most 3-pointers in a single season (154 in 34 games in 2019) and most 3-pointers in a single season (4.53 in 2019). There is. Clark has hit 143 threes this season as of Feb. 22. She is averaging 5.3 hits per game, which would set her record.

She made eight more threes to move into second place on the all-time 3-point shooting list, ahead of Kelsey Mitchell (497 in 139 games). Taylor Robertson made 537 threes in 151 games for the University of Oklahoma from 2018-2023. She played five seasons under a COVID-19 eligibility waiver.

Clark ranks sixth all-time in assists behind Susie McConnell (1,307), Andrea Nagy (1,165), Courtney Vandersloot (1,118), Sabrina Ionescu (1,091) and Tyne Freil (1,088). . This season she is averaging 8.5 and 8.1 for her career.