Bigger than a moment: Caitlin Clark had all eyes on her (again), and she shined brighter than ever

IOWA CITY, Iowa — It happened in as much of a frenzy as the crowds that follow Caitlin Clark around the country. Three shot attempts into the game, and on a classic from the logo, Clark hit the long-awaited mark to bellows from a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd that had barely finished their first Carver Cones of the night.

“You all knew I was going to shoot a logo 3 for the record,” the creator and star of Thursday night’s program said.

Then, for good measure, she added 41 points more to set the Iowa program single-season record at 49 and the 14,998 clad in black and yellow ate every one of them up. They stayed standing post-game of a 106-89 win over Michigan to celebrate the school’s ceremony for her NCAA Women's Division I all-time scoring record, barely moving a muscle except to cheer for the little nuggets of info only they might intimately know.

The way Clark’s mom, Anne Nizzi-Clark, told her in a pre-recorded video it was about the smiles she made on the way and not only the points, of which there are now 3,569. Her family speaking of her humility and joy. The way she quietly, when the ceremony was done and without any extra fanfare, went to take a photo holding the commemorative ball with the security guards who flank her through packs of fans.

To this crowd of season ticket-holders who sold out the arena for the year, Clark is theirs. She is Iowa. It has been her home since before she moved out to the 3-point line, before she could shoot, before she could even lift the ball. A local star from Des Moines playing for a school and state with such a rich history in the sport.

“The University of Iowa is the right place for this to happen. It absolutely is,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said after the streamers settled on the post-game celebration. “This is a place that supported basketball, women’s basketball, for such a long time.”

It was a night of nice fits. The record-breaker was a storybook tale given Clark has become iconic from hitting from the logo, and largely doing it on the break. That she wasted no time also felt apt, even though she said it wasn’t her goal.

“I knew it was going to be kind of one of those nights and I kind of played with a bit more pep in my step and I knew that’s what the team needed after coming off of a loss,” Clark said to a full room of media more fitting of a Final Four than a regular season game.

It was such a flurry that Bluder said she didn’t have time to call a timeout. It took her a second to get back to reality, maybe because it’s a feat she herself could never have imagined at Clark’s age. Iowa got back defensively and she called the timeout on the defensive rebound. The two embraced, and no one spoke during the break.

“We just kind of all sat in our thoughts,” Bluder said. “I just wanted her to have some space to think about what she had accomplished. And just to enjoy the moment.”

The game settled down even as Michigan, who faced the difficult task of having to play in this contest, climbed back into it. Bluder commended them and head coach Kim Barnes Arico post-game for their class, including writing notes to Clark in honor of the moment’s significance.

The Iowa faithful still bellowed for 3-pointers and defensive stops that often elude the offensive-driven Hawkeyes. As the regular season winds down, they’re a well-oiled machine, 15,000-strong used to seeing all the dazzling shots and passes up close. But never quite becoming used to it.

As Clark’s total grew, from 23 in the first quarter to 28 and then 38, they knew the drill. It was only last week that Hannah Stuelke brought this crowd to the same eyes-wide, breath-stopping pause as she neared the program record. Stuelke, a sophomore forward who has stepped up after Monika Czinano’s graduation, fell two short with 47 points.

This time, they earned their moment to erupt again. Clark attempted to break it a few times before connecting on a 3 with 2:08 on the clock. It was her final points of the game and she hit the bench to a roar that became white noise. Her nine 3s tied a career high and she shot 51% overall as well as 50% from 3.

“During warmups, my shot felt pretty good,” said Clark, who added 13 assists and five rebounds. “Usually as a shooter you know. The ball comes off your hand a little better some nights other than others. When you make a couple shots as a shooter that’s a green light to get another one up and that’s exactly what it was. I’m glad I made my first three.”

Stuelke joked with Clark about taking the season-high, single-game scoring record from her, and Clark told reporters Stuelke better break the single-game record during her career.

It’s a micro passing of the torch in a macro one at Iowa these past few years while women’s basketball garners record viewership and interest.

Associate head coach Jan Jensen and Clark have enjoyed their own back-and-forth about scoring records. Jensen once scored 105 in a six-on-six game and averaged 66 points per game in high school. She’s also an Iowa native hailing from Kimballton, three hours west of Iowa City, as is Bluder out of Marion, an hour north. They grew up playing six-on-six basketball in the 1970s before Title IX and amid the NCAA’s refusal to sponsor women’s basketball after the law’s passage in 1972.

“I’ve had so many people come up to me, like 'I played six-on-six basketball, I just can’t believe the way you guys, the crowd you guys draw, how much fun you have playing,'” Clark said on Wednesday. “I think that’s one of the coolest things. These women who played 30-40 years ago are just mesmerized by our team and what we’re doing for women’s basketball. That never gets old. That’s super cool. A lot of those people are some of our biggest fans.”

Bluder was hired at Iowa nearly 25 years ago by Christine Grant, a pioneer and voice for gender equity who fought for and built Iowa’s women’s sports programs until 2000. A photo from her still sits on Bluder’s desk.

“I couldn’t imagine this,” Bluder said of everything surrounding Thursday night, from the media attention to the crowd, the record and the ceremony. “There’s no way. There’s just no way you can even fathom this as a little kid growing up when I did in pre-Title IX."

Clark is the NCAA record-holder, but still has points to score before passing Lynette Woodard, largely considered the women’s college basketball all-time scorer. She had 3,649 points for Kansas when the AIAW governed women’s sports. Clark could realistically pass it this season, as well as Pete Maravich’s all-time DI men’s record of 3,667 points. It could happen the same game.

Clark is not usually emotional, but shed a few tears watching the video from her family. She credited their support, thanked her teammates, shouted out the crowd that has grown over her four years with the program. Celebrating the record was necessary, she said, to honor the foundation those before her have set for the sport. But it’s also time to get into “the best part of basketball season,” when she believes the Hawkeyes are at their best.

“Iowa basketball is at such a high right now and it's so fun to watch and people love supporting it,” Clark said. “We have some fun home games left. We got to go on the road for two really great tests. [I’m] just trying to enjoy every single second because this team is special.”

The young fans in Clark T-shirts waiting to have their Carver Cone bowls signed by the newly crowned all-time leading scorer would agree.