Another day, another record for Caitlin Clark.
Clark broke Steph Curry’s single-season record for 3-pointers in Iowa’s 95-62 victory over Penn State on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. She now has 164 for the year, two more than Curry made in his sophomore season at Davidson.
This latest mark comes one game after Clark passed Pete Maravich to become the all-time leading scorer in college basketball.
“I’ve lost track. She breaks a new record every single night so I’m losing track of them,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said, with a smile.
It looked for much of the game as if Curry would keep his record for another day. Clark missed her first 11 shots from long range, finally connecting with 8:39 left in the fourth quarter. She lifted her arms in triumph and stuck out her tongue as she ran back down the court, and her teammates celebrated on the sideline.
Clark made another later in the quarter. She finished with a game-high 24 points and also had 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Iowa, the second seed in the tournament, plays the winner of Michigan-Indiana in the semifinals Saturday.
Impressive as Clark’s continuous assault on the record books is, what should really scare every other team with designs on the national title is how the rest of the Hawkeyes stepped up on what was an off night for their leader.
Iowa had four other players in double figures, including a career-high 18 from Sydney Affolter. The Hawkeyes also made 15 3s, and only two of them came from Clark.
“My teammates were tremendous,” Clark said after the game. “The Indiana game, especially, that’s really when we looked in the mirror and said we’ve got to find ways to succeed when teams are taking me away and making it hard and I thought everyone stepped up.
“I’m just proud of them. They’re capable of doing it every night.”
Iowa also held Penn State to 62 points. That’s quite a turnaround from the 93 the Hawkeyes allowed in their regular-season meeting last month. Lindsey Kapinus (19) and Ashley Owusu (18) were Penn State’s only players in double figures.
“We played great defense except for the third quarter,” Bluder said.
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Caitlin Clark on passing Steph Curry: ‘A cool moment’
Caitlin Clark’s admiration for Steph Curry wasn’t going to keep her from breaking his record.
Clark’s 3-pointer with 8:39 left in the fourth quarter was her 163rd of the year, breaking Curry’s single-season NCAA record.
“Steph’s amazing,” she said after the game. “Somebody I grew up idolizing, so a cool moment.”
Clark had missed her first 11 shots from 3-point range. When she finally made one, she lifted her arms in triumph and stuck out her tongue.
“It took me a while,” she said, laughing. “Some of (the) best shooters in the world have off nights.”
Clark would make another later in the quarter, and now has two more than Curry made in his sophomore year at Davidson. – Nancy Armour.
