Caitlin Clark becomes Big Ten's all-time assist leader, No. 4 Iowa women beat Minnesota 94-71
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) pass around Minnesota guard Janay Sanders during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, in Iowa City, Iowa. Iowa won 94-71. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark has so many awards, she's not sure where all of them are at.
She's going to add a couple more commemorative basketballs after the fourth-ranked Iowa women defeated Minnesota 94-71 on Saturday.
Clark recorded her sixth double-double of the season and 49th of her career with 35 points and 10 assists — and she became the Big Ten's all-time assist leader.
She also became the first Division I player — man or woman — to have 3,000-plus points, 900 or more assists and 800 or more rebounds in a career. And she moved into fifth place all-time on the NCAA Division I career scoring list with 3,149 points.
“I have a couple of storage units back home my parents put stuff in,” said Clark, whose 904 assists 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.”
“It needs to be cleaned,” coach Lisa Bluder quickly added.
The record-breaking assist came on a pass that Hannah Stuelke, who had 19 points, turned into a layup with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) shoots over Minnesota guard Amaya Battle (3) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, in Iowa City, Iowa. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
“Caitlin always finds me,” Stuelke said.
All of Clark's milestones, though, are something Bluder 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 immediately interrupted.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) runs down a loose ball in front of Minnesota center Sophie Hart, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, in Iowa City, Iowa. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
“Do you ever get tired of my shooting, though?” she said, smiling.
“No,” Bluder said, who then smiled as she added, “Well, sometimes.”
Clark was good with her shooting in this 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.”
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.”
BIG PICTURE
Minnesota: The Golden Gophers came in on an eight-game winning streak, with their only loss this season coming to No. 15 Connecticut. But they were taken out of this game with Iowa’s early run. Minnesota is one of the youngest teams in the Big Ten, and it showed against the experienced Hawkeyes.
Iowa: 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. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder tightened the rotation to just eight players in the first half and got contributions from everyone.
UP NEXT
Minnesota: Hosts Maryland on Wednesday.
Iowa: Hosts Michigan State on Tuesday.
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