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Caitlin Clark Breaks Record for Most Career Points in NCAA Women's Tournament

Patrick Andres|
Apr 7, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22).
Apr 7, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22). | Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Stop us if you've heard this before: on Sunday in the national championship against South Carolina, Iowa guard Caitlin Clark broke a record.

With an extraordinary 18-point first quarter against the Gamecocks, Clark reached 480 points for her career in the NCAA tournament—breaking a record held by legendary Tennessee forward Chamique Holdsclaw.

Clark's Hawkeyes have played in four NCAA tournaments—reaching the Sweet 16 in 2021, the second round in 2022, the national title game in 2023, and the national title game again in 2024. In her senior season, she made history by becoming college basketball's all-division, all-gender, all-time leading scorer.

Holdsclaw's Volunteers found significantly greater tournament success, winning three national titles from 1996-98 and reaching the Elite Eight in 1999. She went on to a decorated WNBA career with four teams.

Clark has many legacies, and chief among them is the fact that she has made virtually all of college basketball's most airtight records look breakable.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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