Iowa's Caitlin Clark breaks NCAA women's career scoring record

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Caitlin Clark wasted no time becoming the NCAA women’s career scoring leader Thursday night, taking less than three minutes to score the eight points she needed to break Kelsey Plum’s record.

The Iowa star who has brought unprecedented attention to women’s basketball surpassed the record with her signature shot — a 35-foot 3-pointer that hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

And Clark didn’t let up from there. She finished with a school-record 49 points, tied her career best with nine 3-pointers and had 13 assists in No. 4 Iowa’s 106-89 victory over Michigan.

Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder took Clark out of the game with 1:46 left, shortly after she made her final 3, and she went to the bench to an ovation from the sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I don’t know if you could script it any better,” Clark said. “Just to do it in this fashion, I’m very grateful and thankful to be surrounded by so many people who have been my foundation in everything I’ve done since I was a young little girl. You all knew I was going to shoot the logo 3 for the record.”

Clark’s huge night put her at 3,569 points and within 80 of her next milestone, Lynette Woodard’s major women’s college scoring record of 3,649.

The record-breaker was a 3 off the dribble on the left wing near the Mediacom Court logo with 7:45 left in the first quarter.

“Warming up, my shot just felt good, so I knew it was going to be kind of one of those nights,” she said. “I played with a little more pep in my step.”

Clark set the record in 126 games, 13 fewer than Plum, who finished with 3,527 points in four seasons at Washington from 2013-17. Woodard starred at Kansas from 1977-81, an era when women’s sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Pearl Moore of Francis Marion holds the overall women’s record with 4,061 points from 1975-79. Woodard and Moore played before the 3-point line was introduced.

Iowa has four regular-season games left, plus the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Barring injury, Clark, a senior who averages 32.8 points per game, is all but certain to pass Woodard. And she has the option to return for a fifth season of