Iowa guard Caitlin Clark OK after collision with fan after upset loss

Jan. 22 (UPI) -- College basketball star Caitlin Clark is OK after she said she was "absolutely just hammered" by a fan who ran onto the court as the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrated an upset win over her Iowa Hawkeyes.

The collision occurred Sunday at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Clark scored a season-high 45 points, with seven made 3-pointers, in the 100-92 overtime defeat.

"I'm OK, I think," Clark told reporters at her postgame news conference. "Great environment and these are the games we love to play, with 18,000 people here. I could see they were storming the court, which was fine.

"I was just trying to exit the court as quickly as possible, so I started running and I was absolutely just hammered by somebody trying to run onto the court, basically blindsided."

Clark missed a 3-pointer just before the final buzzer. She then ran toward the tunnel on her way to the locker room. Buckeyes fans left their seats and rushed the court at the same time.

One fan held her phone above her head as she ran toward half court, not noticing Clark as she was exiting to her left. She then slammed into the Hawkeyes star, resulting in them both falling to the ground.

Several people attended to Clark before she left the area.

"It was kind of scary," Clark said. "It could have caused a serious injury to me. It knocked the wind out of me, but luckily my teammates picked me up and got me off the court.

"Their athletic director already apologized to me, so I really appreciate that. This is what comes with the territory. I'm sure they tried their best to do whatever they could.

"Obviously, it didn't work and that's disappointing, but I'm just focused on the game and ways we can get better."

Buckeyes coach Kevin McGuff started his news conference by apologizing to Clark and the Hawkeyes. He said the Buckeyes "had security in place, but the student apparently beat the security." Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder said she was very disappointed with the postgame protection of her players.

"It's unfortunate that the game ended that way and Caitlin gets taken out on the floor and gets some inappropriate words yelled at her by fans and students," Bluder said. "That just should not happen. It should not happen. Our players should be safe. They should be able to walk off the floor. That's very disappointing.

"I think Ohio State [has] a great team and great environment, but obviously I'm very disappointed with the postgame, with our players getting injured trying to walk out of the gym. That's wrong."

The Buckeyes outshot the Hawkeyes 48.5% to 46.2%. They also made 50% (11 of 22) of their 3-point attempts, compared to the Hawkeyes' 35.7% (10 of 28) clip from downtown.

Cotie McMahon scored 33 points and totaled 12 rebounds for the Buckeyes. Jacy Sheldon chipped in 24 points in the victory.

The No. 18 Buckeyes (16-3) will face the Illinois Fighting Illini (8-9) at 7 p.m. EST Thursday in Champaign, Ill. The No. 2 Hawkeyes (18-3) will host the Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-7) at 2 p.m. Saturday in Iowa City.

With her 45 points Sunday, Clark now sits just 42 points shy of former Missouri State guard Jackie Stiles (3,393) for No. 3 on the women's basketball all-time scoring list. Former Washington guard Kelsey Plum leads that list, with 3,527 points. Former Buckeyes guard Kelsey Mitchell is No. 2, with 3,402 points.

Clark is averaging 31.7 points per game this season, the most for any player in women's or men's college basketball.