The Guru Report: Clark Breaks D-1 Career and Iowa Game Records in Hawkeyes Win; South Carolina Tops Tennessee; First of Two NCAA Reveals

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Caitlin Clark quickly crossed the threshold Thursday night to become the new NCAA Division I women’s scoring leader and continued in spectacular fashion finishing with 49 points before another home sellout crowd as No. 4 Iowa downed visiting Michigan 106-89 in the Big Ten while in the Southeastern Conference visiting No. 1 South Carolina turned aside a challenge at Tennessee 66-55 in Knoxville to remain the last unbeaten team.

 

Locally, just two games, Penn State at home got upended 86-71 by Illinois in the Big Ten while Rider on the road edged Iona 45-43 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

 

In Division II, Frances Marion center Lauryn Taylor grabbed 44 rebounds to set an overall NCAA record across divisions as the Patriots downed host North Greenville 85-62 in Florence, S.C.

 

The 5-11 senior’s total came from 30 defensive and 14 offensive boards passing the earlier mark of 36 in D-2 set by West Virginia Tech’s Christine DeSaine against Ohio Valley in 1995.

 

The old, combined record was Deborah Temple’s 40 for Delta State in a D-1 game in a 1983 game against Ala.-Birmingham, while the D-3 mark is 38.

 

Off the court the NCAA tournament committee named South Carolina, Stanford, Ohio State, and Colorado in order as the No. 1 seeds in the first of two 16-team reveals in the field of 68 were announced right now instead of the Selection Sunday show at 8 p.m. on ESPN on March 17.

 

Clark entered the night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena eight points short of eclipsing former Washington star Kelsey Plum after Sunday’s upset loss at Nebraska that cost Iowa two spots in this week’s Associated Press women’s poll.

 

She got there at 3,528 before going on to set the Iowa game record in the first 2:12 of the contest scoring a layup off the opening tip, a deep 3 from beyond the arc on the left side and one even further out as the crowd went wild.

 

“You all knew I was going to shoot a logo free for the record,” Clark said afterwards, her total now 3,569. “I don't know if you can really script it any better” Clark said. “Just to do it in this fashion, I'm very grateful. Very thankful to be surrounded by so many people that have been my foundation.”

 

Besides her fourth career game scoring 45 or more points — the prior Hawkeye game record was 48 from Megan Gustafon — she also had 13 assists.

 

“It is really hard to stop Caitlin Clark,” said Iowa coach Lisa Bluder as the Hawkeyes (23-3, 12-2 Big Ten) stayed a game behind No. 2 Ohio State. Kate Martin scored 20, Hannah Stuelke added 13.

 

Clark was 16-31 from the field, 9-18 from deep.

 

“We sent three people...,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Ariico said. “She’s incredible, she's incredible, she's incredible. People besides us have trouble trying to stop her.”

 

Jordan Hobbs had 16 points for Michigan (16-10, 7-7), while four other teammates also scored in double figures behind her.

 

The all-time major women’s record set in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) era prior to NCAA women’s competition that began in 1981-82 was 3,649 points set by Kansas Hall of Fame standout Lynette Woodard in 1981 while Pearl Moore of Francis Marion set the overall women’s standard of 4,061 points in 1979 in the AIAW small college division.

 

Pete Maravich hols the men’s D-1 record at 3,667.

 

Iowa is at Indiana next Thursday. The No. 14 Hoosiers are tied with the Hawkeyes for second.

 

South Carolina Stops Tennessee:  Back from missing two games competing with the Brazilian national team for a spot in the Paris Olympics this summer, Kamilla Cordoso scored 18 points and grabbed 10 boards to lead the Gamecocks (24-0, 11-0) to a 66-55 win over the upset-minded Lady Vols (15-9, 8-4).

 

“Getting Kamilla the ball was so important,” said S.C. coach Dawn Staley. “We don't win the game without Kamilla tonight.”

 

Ashlyn Watkins added 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Raven Johnson grabbed 15 boards.

 

The Lady Vols got 19 points from Rickea Jackson, while Sara Puckett scored 15, and Jasmine Powell scored 12.

 

The Gamecocks tied at 48 after three quarters, opened the final period with a 9-1 run to go on to staying the last team with a perfect record.

 

“We weren't as aggressive as we needed to be in the fourth quarter,” said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper. “It got away from us on the offensive boards.”

 

Elsewhere in the SEC of note, Vanderbilt (19-7, 6-6) won 49-45 at Texas A&M (17-7, 5-6) in College as Khamil Pierre scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Commodores.

 

ACC Action: No. 16 Louisville (21-5, 10-3) had 16 points and the game-winning shot with 18.4 second left from Nina Rickards to escape 69-67 with a road win at Boston College (11-16, 3-11) as Dontavia Waggoner scored 22 in the game at Chestnut Hill, Mass.

 

No. 6 NC State (22-3, 9-3) won 59-43 at No. 16 Notre Dame (18-6, 8-5) holding the Irish to a season low and freshman sensation Hannah Hidalgo to a career low 10 points. 

 

No. 12 Virginia Tech (21-4, 12-2) maintained a one-game lead in the conference winning 61-56 at home in Blacksburg over Duke (16-8, 8-5) as Elizabeth Kitley equalled her career high with 34 points.

 

The Local Scene: A strong second half carried Illinois (12-12, 6-8) to an 86-71 win at Penn State (16-9, 7-7) in the Big Ten, the host Lady Lions getting 15 points from Ashley Owusu while reserve Mackenna Marisa scored 14 and Ali Brigham scored 10 points. 

 

Leilani Kapinus had eight points and nine rebounds.

 

Marisa became the first on the Blue and White to play in 135 games while Owusu passed 500 career assists in part compiled at prior programs.

 

Penn State next visits Maryland Sunday at 1 p.m. for the second meeting looking for a sweep of the Terrapins.

 

Rider (7-16, 4-10) edged host Iona (8-15, 3-11) in the MAAC as Taylor Langan scored before time expired to snap a deadlock for a 45-43 victory in New Rochelle, N.Y. in a game aired on ESPNU.

 

“I'm confident if we could get her the ball in the right spot, we knew she could get a shot off and make a great play,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “Her teammates executed the play really well to kind of draw the defense away from her so that she could catch it clean. Everybody's got to do their job on the play and Taylor set herself up for a great look.

 

“We needed to defend this team for the entire 40 minutes.”

 

Makayla Firebaugh had 15 points in completing a sweep of the Gaels and Langan scored 12.

 

Rider is off a week before hosting St. Peter’s Thursday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

Looking Ahead: It’s a big road weekend in the Ivy League for Penn and No. 25 league-leading Princeton doing back-to-backs at Yale and Brown.

 

Princeton, holding a one-game advantage on Columbia visits Brown on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Providence, R.I., while Penn at the same time as at Yale in New Haven, Conn. Both games airing on ESPN+.

 

On Saturday when they switch, Penn will be at Brown at 5 p.m., while Princeton plays at Yale, 6 p.m. and those games also air on ESPN+.

 

Columbia is at Dartmouth Friday night at 6 p.m. and at Harvard at 4 p.m. on Sunday, the latter also on ESPNU.

 

The Quakers are tied with Yale, which rallied to win at The Palestra last month, both a game behind Brown for the fourth and last spot in next month’s Ivy Madness tourney at Columbia.

 

If you’re a Penn fan, here’s what you want to happen.

 

Both the Quakers and Princeton sweep the weekend.

 

That would put Penn two up on Yale and a season split and one up on Brown with a tie-breaking sweep if necessary.

 

Among remaining games, Penn’s two underdog ones are hosting Harvard, visiting Princeton.

 

Yale hosts Columbia and visits Brown, which also has Harvard to play.

 

Meanwhile in the Coastal Athletic Association, Drexel Friday night is at Towson at 7 p.m. in suburban Baltimore on FloHoops, at Sunday at 2 p.m. looking for a sweep of Delaware, the only Blue Hens game this weekend, the Dragons looking for a sweep.

 

Nationally, Friday, in the Big East, No. 20 Creighton is at St. John’s, which trails Villanova by a half-game in fourth, at 7 p.m. No. 15 Connecticut hosts Georgetown.

 

In the Pac-12 Friday, No. 3 Stanford hosts Bay-rival California; No. 11 Oregon State hosts No. 9 UCLA; No. 10 Southern Cal is at Oregon; and No. 22 Utah hosts No. 8 Colorado.

 

On Saturday, locally, Villanova hosts Butler at 4 p.m. while Rutgers at 2 p.m. hosts Wisconsin. 

 

NCAA Reveal

 

Here’s how the top 16 would line up at the Albany (NY) at Portland (Ore) Sites. The second is the overall seed number.

 

Albany Regional 1

 

1-1  South Carolina

2-7 UCLA

3-12 Uconn

4-16 Louisville 

 

Portland Regional 2

 

1-2  Stanford

2-8 Texas

3-11 Oregon State

4-15 Indiana

 

Albany Regional 3

 

1-3  Ohio State

2-6 NC State

3-9 Southern Cal

4-14 LSU

 

Portland Regional 4

1-4  Colorado

2-5 Iowa

3-10 Virginia Tech

4-13 Kansas State

 

And that’s the report