Wrapping Up 2023 – Top 5 Caitlin Clark Moments

Caitlin Clark is one of the most impressive and outstanding players in college women’s basketball. Her swiftness on the court is unmatched. Her gameplay and point-making skills cover most of her player profile. This season she has been averaging a remarkable 30.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists. Also, she is shooting with a field goal percentage of 48.7%.

With many accolades entering her name, let’s look at some of those mesmerizing moments that made Caitlin Clark the best of the best players in college basketball right now.

Caitlin Clark’s career-defining moments

Caitlin Clark has made 2023 a sensational year and a record-breaking one. Enlisting the long entries of achievements, here’s how 2023 looked for Iowa Hawkeyes’ Guard Caitlin Clark:

Notably the first one, Clark is the only player to record back-to-back 40-point games in NCAA women’s tournament history. The first one was against Louisville in the Elite Eight, where she hooped 41 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds. This score contributed to her first 40-point triple-double. Otherwise, it was the 11th triple-double of her career.

Similarly, the next one was against South Carolina in the Final Four. Although it was a 77-73 upset for Iowa, however, Clark successfully scored 41 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and 1 steal in just 39 minutes. Notably, Clark’s performance in these games played a crucial role in Iowa’s final four run.

Her third accolade in this segment came when Clark became the sixth Division I player to score 1000 points in a single season when she hooped her 16th point during the national semifinals in a game against Evansville. By officially breaking the 1000-point mark Clark became the first player in the Big Ten history to accomplish this milestone in just 40 games. In addition, she also broke Kelsey Mitchell’s 1000-point record she made 41 points while playing for Ohio State.

In the same matchup, Clark also scored a career-high 44 points, setting a Carver-Hawkeye Arena record. “Nothing’s really set in stone and that’s really when I’m at my best, when I’m just playing, my teammates are flowing, when we pass the ball as well as we do and we just shoot it really well,” Clark expressed her joy after this accomplishment.

Another one was when Clark became the only basketball athlete to have made an impressive 3000 points, 750 rebounds, and 750+ assists. Moreover, Clark is only 514 points shy of Kelsey Plum’s all-time scoring record in women’s basketball. The record came after an outstanding milestone of 2813 record career points, which surpassed Megan Gustafson’s previous record of her time of 2804 points.

Now, bringing attention to Clark’s record in 3-point shots. During the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Clark made 32 3-point shots in the semifinal game against South Carolina. She surpassed the previous record set by Katy Steding who made 6 3-point shots in 1990. Moreover, she tied this score with Virginia Tech’s Georgia Moore.

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These are the top 5 Caitlin Clark moments that mesmerized fans this year, however, that’s not all. Many more jaw-dropping moments have been engraved in basketball’s history by Caitlin Clark.

Caitlin Clark’s other Awe-some achievements

Talking about the March Madness this year, Clark dished out 60 assists in 6 games, setting a single tournament record.  This record was previously held by LSU’s Temaka Johnson when she served 50 assists in 5 games of the 2004 tournament.

Now, the majority of Clark’s performances have shown that she is a non-stop scoring machine. In this year’s March Madness, her 191-point score set a new record for a player scoring in a single NCAA Tournament – both men’s and women’s. Previously, this record was held by WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes who scored 177 points for Texas Tech in 1993.

After the regular season ended, Clark amassed 265 points in just nine games, including a run to the Big Ten Conference Championship. As a scale to compare, last year the Hawkeyes football team scored a total of 230 points in 13 games, proving that Clark is a force that can easily surpass a football team’s joint scoring effort.

One of the most significant and impactful milestones that Clark touched when she led the Hawkeyes to the 2023 Final Four. Now, what’s more interesting about this is that it was Iowa’s first Final Four appearance since 1993 when they lost to Ohio State in the semifinal.

All these achievements led her to many awards. This year she received the honor of Division I Academic All-American of the Year. She became 2x NCAA season assists leader (2022, 2023), Moreover, she became the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) of the Big Ten Tournament in both 2022 and 2023.

She has also been honored with the First-team All-Big Ten award thrice (2021, 2022, 2023). Most notable awards include the 2023 AP Player of the Year, Honda Sports Award 2023, John R. Wooden Award 2023, Naismith College Player of the Year 2023, and USBWA National Player of the Year 2023.

In addition, she has also been awarded with Wade Trophy this year, along with the James E. Sullivan Award. She became a part of the Unanimous first-team All-American, both in 2022 and 2023. Received first-team All-American in USBWA thrice in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Clark has indeed maintained a streak of winning awards too. She has been winning the WBCA Coaches’ All-American since 2021, leading to 2022, and now also in 2023.

The next one is her Dawn Staley Award honors which she has been winning since 2021. She is the 2x Nancy Leiberman Award winner of 2022 and 2023, and she was the Big Ten Player of the Year in both years.

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With so many achievements already amassed, Caitlin has become a source of inspiration for other budding players aspiring to make a name in the sport.