Iowa's Caitlin Clark fell just eight points short Sunday afternoon of the women's scoring record as the Hawkeyes were upset by Nebraska 82-79.
In front of another sell-out crowd, Clark scored 31 points but went scoreless in the fourth quarter when the Cornhuskers closed the Hawkeye's 14-point lead. Iowa and Clark play Michigan on Thursday night in Iowa City, Iowa.
The 22-year-old senior phenom has averaged 32.1 points this season, but she's averaged nearly 34 points in her last five games. At that pace, Clark could surpass Kelsey Plum's mark of 3,527 career points in the first quarter on Thursday.
Why all the excitement around Clark? The Hawkeye phenom's mark on all NCAA basketball could ultimately be even bigger. She is 147 points shy of Pete Maravich's all-time scoring record, which has stood for five decades.
The Des Moines, Iowa, native is averaging 32.1 points per game this season. If she maintains her 32-point pace, she'll pass Maravich's career total by the end of the regular season on March 3.
Maravich's title could fall even faster if Clark puts together a few more 40-point games. She's had three this season, pushing her career total to 11. That's more than any Division I player in the past 25 years.
And even if Clark's pace slows in the final five games of the regular season, she'll most likely have the NCAA Tournament with the No. 2-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes to pass Maravich or put more distance between herself and all the other college scoring greats.
Because of the COVID-19 eligibility extensions, she could even be back for the 2024-25 season if she chooses and push the career record that much higher.
As the the second-leading scorer among NCAA Division I women, Clark is also fourth among all Division I players.
Clark joined an exclusive club in early December when she scored her 3,000th career point against Iowa State. Only 25 other players — 15 of them women — in NCAA Division I history have topped 3,000 points.
Not unexpectedly, all but five players crossed the 3,000-point threshold after the NCAA adopted the 3-point shot for the 1986-87 season. Maravich set the current all-time mark in three seasons on LSU's varsity team without a three-point shot.
While her scoring prowess has put her on the map for many casual fans, Clark has been the nation's best on many of the top metrics in women's college basketball. She's the only NCAA player to have a combined 3,000 points, 750 assists and 750 rebounds.
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