Iowa's Caitlin Clark Passes Pete Maravich For Scoring Record

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IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Caitlin Clark has joked about being nicknamed "Ponytail Pete" in recognition of how her game resembles that of "Pistol Pete" Maravich.

On Sunday in her last regular-season home game, the Iowa star passed the LSU and NBA legend for the most points scored by a Division I basketball player, men's or women's.

On senior day at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Clark entered the game against Big Ten regular-season champion Ohio State needing 18 points to pass Maravich, who scored 3,667 points in his three seasons at LSU from 1967 to 1970.

She did that in the first half and then finished the game with 35 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in No. 6 Iowa's 93-83 victory over No. 2 Ohio State. It ended the 15-game winning streak of the Buckeyes, avenged Iowa's overtime loss at Ohio State in January and put Clark at 3,685 career points.

The Hawkeyes (26-4) and Buckeyes (25-4) are the top two seeds in the Big Ten tournament and could meet again next week in Minneapolis.

"I've always been able to score the ball, but I don't think people really understand how many amazing players have come before me and been able to score the ball and do it at such a high rate and for teams that are really, really good."

Clark got the record in a rather improbable way. After Clark missed a 3-pointer on her last shot attempt of the first half, the Hawkeyes had one more chance at the basket after an Ohio State miss.

Iowa's Hannah Stuelke was fouled by Madison Greene, and then a technical foul was called on the Buckeyes' Cotie McMahon. After Stuelke hit two free throws, Clark stepped to the line with 0.3 seconds left needing both free throws to reach 18 points. She hit both to pass Maravich and give Iowa a 48-39 lead at halftime.

Clark has set several records:

On Dec. 6, she hit the 3,000-point mark at Iowa State.

On Feb. 11 at Nebraska, she reached the 1,000-assist mark, making her the first Division I women's player to have both 3,000 points and 1,000 assists. (She now has 1,058 career assists).

On Feb. 15 in Iowa City, Clark passed Washington's Kelsey Plum (3,527 points from 2013-17) for the NCAA women's scoring record with a 49-point performance that also set Iowa's single-game scoring record.

On Feb. 28 at Minnesota, Clark passed Kansas' Lynette Woodard for the major-college women's scoring record with a 33-point performance that was part of her 17th career triple-double. Woodard played just before the NCAA era, scoring 3,649 points from 1977 to 1981, when women's college sports was governed by the AIAW. Woodard was in attendance at Sunday's game and received a standing ovation from the crowd when she was introduced on the court during the first quarter.

Also in that victory over the Gophers, Clark hit eight 3-pointers, giving her 156 for the season, another Division I record. Clark's six triple-doubles with at least 30 points are also the most in Division I history.

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Gallery Credit: Brian Budzynski