LINCOLN, Neb.: If Caitlin Clark goes to turn into the all-time main scorer in NCAA girls’s basketball historical past on Sunday, she should put up one in all her highest level totals of the season in No. 2 Iowa’s recreation at Nebraska.
The Hawkeyes’ celebrity has 3,489 factors and desires 39 to move Kelsey Plum’s complete of three,527 for Washington from 2013-17.
Clark, who scored 27 in a 111-93 win over Penn State in Iowa’s final recreation, is averaging 32.2 factors. She is on tempo to set the report Thursday at house in opposition to Michigan — if she doesn’t do it Sunday when the sport is nationally broadcast at midday Central on Fox.
(*39*)She has scored 40 or extra factors in three video games this season and has performed a few of the greatest video games of her profession in opposition to Nebraska, going off for 41 within the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, 39 in Lincoln in 2021 and 38 in a 92-73 win in Iowa City two weeks in the past.
The recreation at Pinnacle Bank Arena has been bought out because the first week of January, and sellers on the secondary ticket market late within the week had been asking as a lot as $2,000 for a seat within the decrease bowl.
“I love Pinnacle Bank. They always have a great crowd. That’s what fires a competitor up for a game,” Clark stated in a preseason interview with The Associated Press. “I have a bunch of family from Nebraska, and they’re all there and that motivates me more. It’s the only time they get to watch me.”
Fans started lining up on the area doorways six hours earlier than tipoff. Five preteen women in an finish zone part, every holding up a letter to spell out “CLARK,” began a “Caitlin Clark” chant 90 minutes earlier than tipoff.
Cheers elevated in quantity when Clark was first noticed within the tunnel from the locker room to the courtroom. Fans leaning on the railing reached down in hopes of getting a hand slap as she got here by way of. Next was a standing ovation when Clark, escorted by a safety guard, stepped onto the courtroom to start capturing drills. She shot alone for 5 minutes earlier than teammates joined her.
Kim Malone of Omaha confirmed up at about 8:15 a.m. carrying an indication studying, “Feels like a great day to drop a 40 piece. Let her cook. GOAT 22.”
“We’re here early because we love Caitlin Clark and what she’s done for women’s basketball,” Malone stated. “I played Division II, my daughter plays, we love basketball. To watch all these people come, it’s just amazing.”
Malone stated she admires the fearlessness with which Clark performs.
“She’s like the closest thing to Kobe Bryant for us, and we love Kobe,” she stated. “Her work ethic and her pursuit to be the greatest is incredible, but then she doesn’t get lost in that. She includes everybody. Her passes are incredible. She’s one of a kind.”
Nick Ames of Lincoln was the primary individual ready to enter the world, arriving at 6:45 a.m. He got here to root for Nebraska and wore a T-shirt saying, “I’m Kevin O’Hare’s Favorite Cousin.” O’Hare is Clark’s capturing coach.
“I’m here to heckle today because I do not want her to get that record and just thought the shirt and bringing up him would be something to get in her mind a little bit,” stated Ames, including that his mission was to get as near the courtroom as he might so she would see the shirt. “I’m a Husker fan. She can get it at home if she wants it.”
Clark, who’s from West Des Moines, Iowa, has by no means scored fewer than 30 factors in eight video games in opposition to Nebraska, all wins. Her 34.8 factors per recreation in opposition to the Cornhuskers is her highest common in opposition to opponents she’s confronted greater than 4 occasions.
In three visits to Lincoln, Clark has averaged 33.3 factors, shot 52.4% (33 of 63) general and 42.3% (11 of 26) on 3-pointers.
“You just like certain arenas; you have good history of shooting there, you have good history of winning there,” she stated. “It’s just always good vibes when we go to Lincoln.”
If Clark breaks the NCAA report Sunday, her subsequent goal would be the all-time main girls’s school scoring report of three,649 by Kansas’ Lynette Woodard from 1977-81. During Woodard’s period, girls’s sports activities had been ruled by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.
Clark has been the face of faculty hoops this season, with a flashy offensive recreation highlighted by breathtaking 3-level photographs generally launched from the sting of the halfcourt emblem. The Nebraska recreation is Iowa’s fourth on community TV this season.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
