Caitlin Clark: Signs of a Genius – Unravelling the NCAA Queen’s High School Career

Caitlin Clark is close to breaking Pete Maravich’s record. She has been inching closer to milestones with an exponential speed for the past few days. Firstly, she went ahead of Kelsey Plum as the NCAA women’s all-time leading scorer. Then she broke Lynette Woodard’s record of 3,649 points. And now she has her eyes set on edging past Antoine Davis and Pete Maravich. 

The signs of a genius were long evident in Caitlin Clark. She came of age on a bigger platform accessible to the spectators. Clark achieved that when she transitioned into her college basketball career. But she had displayed her prodigal talent since high school itself. 

How were Clark’s high school years?

The Des Moines-born studied at the Dowling Catholic High School and decided to ply her trade for them. She was helped in her purpose by her coach Kristin Meyer. As a freshman, Clark averaged a decent 15.3 points per contest with 4.7 assists per match. For her dandy display, Clark got her name published in the newspaper. It shot up her fame and fortitude.

Clark was instrumental in taking her team to a 19-5 record. Her team got selected in the Class 5A state tournament. During her sophomore year, Clark averaged a whopping 27.1 points with 6.5 rebounds per match. She earned the title of Central Iowa Metro League Player of the Year by the Des Moines Register. She also made it to the All Iowa Attack, an AAU team, for the Nike EYBL. She smashed a stupendous 23 points to help the team win over the Cal Storm in the Finals.

One of her most shape-shifting performances that showed glimpses of a points hoarder was when she smoked a humongous 60 points against the Mason City High School. Clark then only registered her name in the record books as the highest scorer in a single game only second to Abby Roe. She also made an entry for her record-breaking 13 three-pointers in the state. That year, Clark helped her team reach the semi-finals of the Class 5A state tournament.

During her junior year, the 6-foot athlete led her state in scoring with 32.6 points per game. She earned the Gatorade Player of the Year. Her senior year only saw her replicating her performances from the junior grade as she amassed points at her will and averaged an enormous 33.4 points per game. She provided the impetus for her team to reach the Class 5A regional final. Therefore, Clark by now had shown that she was a trustworthy player who could be the alpha for her team when the situation demanded.

Clark ended her high school career standing fourth on the list of most points. Whereas in terms of her signature three-pointers, Clark occupied the sixth position in the Iowa five-on-five history. She earned a call to the McDonald’s All-American game and Jordan Brand Classic but could not unfortunately ply her trade due to their cancellation because of COVID-19. Other than that, Clark earned several accolades including but not limited to Gatorade Player of the Year, and Des Moines Register’s All-Iowa Athlete of the Year.

Read More: How Far Is Caitlin Clark From Becoming NCAA’s Queen?

Not only this, Clark was a multi-sport athlete who also played soccer during her initial two years with her high school team but later decided to against it and resolved to concentrate on basketball. Her recruiting journey is also special because she had earned calls from reputed colleges much before class 7th.

How was Clark recruited?

When it comes to recruiting, Clark had already checked all the necessary boxes before high school. She got her first letter of interest from the Missouri State when she had not even entered seventh grade. This truly shows how Clark’s talent had started getting recognition from all the right quarters.

During her sophomore year in 2020, Clark was ranked atop the player’s list. She was deemed as a five-star recruit by ESPN. In November 2019 she decided to ply her trade for the Iowa over offers from the Iowa State and Notre Dame. The two most important things for her consideration were that the Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder would help her develop as a point guard. Plus with the departure of the Iowa star Kathleen Doyle, Clark would get the chance to be a mainstay player for the Hawkeyes ever since her freshman year.

And as they say, the rest is history. Clark has been decimating points ever since her arrival on the college basketball circuit. She has thrashed her opponents and applied her gaming acumen to become the core player for Iowa.

Read More: 2024 All-Star Game: Caitlin Clark Set to Embark on NCAA’s Last Dance Alongside Angel Reese

She took the team to the NCAA 2022-23 Finals against the Louisiana State University Tigers last year. This year with the support of her teammates, the National Player of the Year contender is trying her best to help her team reach a stage from where there is no looking back.