Despite success of Caitlin Clark, girls basketball in Iowa has not seen a growth

Numbers are down as six schools failed to field varsity teams this season in Iowa

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates in the final seconds of a second-round NCAA Tournament game between Iowa and West Virginia, Monday, March 25, 2024 at Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. / Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While Caitlin Clark and the WNBA feed off one another and take women’s basketball to another level, the trickle-down effect of the sport is not good.

Six schools in Iowa this winter did not field a varsity team, as the total number of players last year was down almost 40 percent, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

And it is not just Iowa that is suffering.

Nebraska has had a number of schools opt out of a varsity schedule. That includes Grand Island Senior High School, which is the third-largest in the state with over 2,600 students. 

So while record-numbers tuned in during the WNBA last season to watch the likes of Clark and Angel Reese, kids are not trying to follow them as of right now.

We’ve seen the train coming,” former Grand Island mayor and soccer coach Jeremy Jensen told the AP. “I mean we’ve been sitting on the tracks forever. But frankly, people just didn’t want to do the heavy lifting that was required.”

Grand Island, located some 120 miles west of Omaha, had zero seniors or juniors go out for girls basketball. 

Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, a school in Iowa, was one of the bigger programs to decide to not play this year. That left a senior and three-year starter, Elliot Ennis, without an opportunity to finish her high school career. Her mother, Elizabeth, was the head coach prior to the start of this past season.

Lopsided scores playing into decision to not play girls basketball

According to a report by the AP, participation in girls high school basketball has dropped nearly 20 percent since Clark was born 22 years ago. It is currently behind volleyball, soccer and track and field in terms of most popular. 

Those three sports have seen double-digit surges in terms of participation, meaning there is not a lack of girls in the schools; they just don’t to play basketball.

We previously reported that there could be one key reason for that. The margin of victory in Iowa has a lopsided number in several classes, leaving players to stand out on the court in front of friends and family was being almost embarrassed. 

“If you’re Grand Island going into Omaha facing some kids that are going to go D1 and you can only keep up with them for the first half of the first quarter, would you want to play longer?” said Jim Ward, who watched every member of his oldest daughter’s middle school team quit basketball in high school in Grand Island.