Caitlin Clark had a terrific Sunday afternoon.
The University of Iowa women’s basketball program immortalized Clark’s career forever as they officially retired her No. 22 jersey and hung it in the rafters of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Clark stood with her family as the number was raised to the top of the facility.
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Clark then got to watch the Hawkeyes stun No. 4 USC for one of the biggest wins of their season. Lucy Olsen scored 28 points and Addison O’Grady had 13 in the 76-69 win. Iowa opened the game on a 17-1 run but were down at halftime before righting the ship and pulling off the victory.
Olsen and O’Grady had 23 of Iowa’s 25 fourth-quarter points.
JuJu Watkins, who is set to be the next women’s basketball star, led the team with 27 points, five rebounds and three assists. She was 8-of-22 from the field and played 40 minutes.
But it wasn’t enough for the Trojans to hold off Iowa.
Clark, who became college basketball’s all-time leading scorer while leading Iowa to back-to-back national championship appearances, spoke about her jersey retirement before the game.
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« I feel like I already have those butterflies in your stomach when you walk in here, » Clark said during a pregame press conference. « Not so much for a basketball game now, but obviously just to be around everybody and to enjoy this environment. I don’t have to go and compete for 40 minutes, even though I wish maybe I could. I think it will definitely be a little bit more emotional that I don’t have to compete. »
A sellout crowd of 14,998 attended the game. Former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder and former teammates Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall were in attendance. Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White and comedian David Letterman were also at the game.
Clark reflected on the winning Iowa did while she was at the press conference.
« The winning came because of the great culture that we had, » she said. « And for me, I hope that’s the thing that always stays intact, and I know it will, because of the great coaching staff we have and the type of players that they are here.
« We had players that were selfless. We had players that didn’t care how many points you were going to score. They’re going to do whatever they could for your teammates. They were going to hold their teammates accountable. And I think that’s a lost art in college these days, and you don’t always see that. »
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Publish date : 2025-02-02 22:40:00
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