- Clark – a 21-year-old guard – had 10 assists and 35 points vs. Minnesota, Saturday
- She recorded her sixth double-double of the season and 49th of her career, too
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Caitlin Clark has made history by becoming the first DI player – man or woman – to have 3,000-plus points, 900 or more assists and 800 or more rebounds in a career as she became the Big Ten’s all-time assist leader after Iowa defeated Minnesota.
On Saturday, Clark, 21, had 10 assists along with 35 points and five rebounds in a 94-71 win for the Lady Hawkeyes against the Golden Gophers. She now has 904 assists since her freshman year at Iowa – the 2020-21 season – and moved into fifth place all-time on the NCAA Division I career scoring list with 3,149 points.
What’s more is that that Clark recorded her sixth double-double of the season and 49th of her career against Minnesota, as she continues to break records in women’s college basketball.
‘I have a couple of storage units back home my parents put stuff in,’ said Clark, whose assists tally surpassed Samantha Prahalis’ 901. ‘The 3,000-point ball is just sitting in our locker room. Sometimes it gets lost in my locker, I don’t know, until I clean it out, or until I make one of my teammates clean it out. They get so annoyed, they clean it for me.’
The record-breaking assist came on a pass that Hawkeyes forward Hannah Stuelke, who had 19 points, turned into a layup with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
Caitlin Clark moved into the No. 5 spot on the DI career scoring list Saturday against Minnesota
‘Caitlin always finds me,’ Stuelke said.
All of Clark’s milestones, though, are something Lisa Bluder – Iowa’s head coach – has grown to appreciate.
‘I relish it,’ Bluder said. ‘It’s so much fun. I want her to get double-doubles, I want her to break records. To me, it’s so much fun to watch her do that. I never get tired of her passing.’
Clark was good with her shooting in Saturday’s game, going 13 of 22 from the field, including 8 of 16 on 3-pointers.
Iowa (13-1, 2-0 Big Ten) extended its winning streak to 10 games, the program’s longest streak since the 2004-05 team opened the season with 13 consecutive wins.
Amaya Battle had 16 points for Minnesota (11-2, 1-1).
‘Iowa’s a great team, and any time you give a great team a little bit, they can go far with it,’ Battle said. ‘We didn’t come out hard, and they took advantage of that.’
The 21-year-old had 10 assists and 35 points against the Golden Gophers in a 94-71 win for Iowa
Mara Braun had 15 points and Sophie Hart added 13 for the Golden Gophers.
‘Obviously, Iowa played at a really high level and did good things,’ Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. ‘They outcompeted us early on and we dug ourselves a hole. They attacked and got to the rim, and for whatever reason, we didn’t help each other a lot.’
The Hawkeyes hadn’t played since a December 21 win over Loyola Chicago, but showed the long layoff wasn’t going to be a problem with a strong start. Bluder tightened the rotation to just eight players in the first half and got contributions from everyone.
Up next for Iowa is a home game against Michigan State on Tuesday.
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