– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND — The traveling road show that is Iowa women’s basketball made its latest stop inside of the big top on the shadows of the nation’s capital, and Caitlin Clark, college basketball’s leading show person, put together a series of breath-taking deep shots and sleight-of-hand passing that pleased the latest crowd gathered to get the chance to see that they saw the great Caitlin perform once again.
And in short order, and after another dazzling, stat-stuffing performance, Clark will stand alone as the greatest scorer college basketball has ever witnessed.
Clark poured in 38 points and handed out a season-high 12 assists, leading the second-ranked Hawkeyes to a 93-85 victory over Maryland in a sold-out XFINITY Center, many wearing black and gold to see Clark now get to within 66 points of becoming the all-time leading scorer in the history of women’s college basketball and pass current leader Kelsey Plum (3,527).
There were three quick three-pointers in succession in the first quarter. There were loud cheers and audible boos with every almost every touch of the ball. There were zipped passes from 35 feet out for backdoor layups, and others leading to wide-open three pointers that were drained by her teammates. Clark did not disappoint, and in doing so, led the Hawkeyes to their first-ever Big Ten win on the road against the Terrapins, once the gold standard in the conference.
“I take it in everywhere I go and I think I’m just very grateful and obviously it’s changed my life in some ways more than others, just being aware of my surroundings and stuff like that, but people spend a lot of time, money and resources to come see us play,” Clark says. “Whenever I step on the court, I just want to have a lot of fun and I’ve been able to find a lot of joy and calmness in that. I don’t get nervous for these games, honestly. It is what it is, it’s basketball.
“One game is not gonna make or break our season and I just find a calming presence in like, being around my teammates and having fun playing this game.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s contest, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Yusuf Abdullah. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 10 pictures in total.
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