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North Carolina defeats Wake Forest to win 2024 Women’s College Cup final

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By Associate Press

CARY, N.C. — Olivia Thomas scored on a free kick in the 62nd minute for her fourth goal of the NCAA tournament as North Carolina beat Wake Forest 1-0 on Monday night for the program’s first national championship since 2012.

North Carolina (22-5-0) has won 22 of the 43 NCAA women’s soccer titles. The Tar Heels also won the 1981 AIAW title to total 23 national championships. No other women’s soccer team has won more than four.

Wake Forest (16-4-4) was playing in the championship game for the first time in program history. The Demon Deacons were seeking just the 11th national championship in school history. UNC has 51 NCAA team championships across eight sports.

Thomas drew three defenders and was taken down just outside the 18-yard box by Dempsey Brown, who received a yellow card. Thomas found a gap in the wall and curled it past goalkeeper Valentina Amaral for her ninth goal of the season.

Interim head coach Damon Nahas is the second coach in NCAA women’s soccer history to win a national championship in their first year as a head coach, joining UCLA’s Margueritte Aozasa from 2022.

North Carolina was making its 32nd College Cup appearance, including five of the past seven. No other team has been in more than 14. UNC was in the national title game for the 28th time, and has finished as the runner-up on six occasions.

It was the first title game involving two teams from the state of North Carolina since 1992 when North Carolina beat Duke 9-1.

The incredible career numbers achieved by UConn’s Geno Auriemma as he sets coaching wins record

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Jordan Mendoza

USA TODAY

After four decades and more than a thousand games, Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma now stands alone on top of the sport.

Auriemma became college basketball’s − men’s and women’s − winningest coach in history after the Huskies defeated Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday in front of a home crowd that celebrated the man responsible for building the most-dominant program in women’s basketball. It’s a remarkable achievement given he didn’t think it would ever happen, but it’s now another accolade that cements Auriemma as one of the greatest coaches of all sports.

With Auriemma reaching another basketball milestone, here are some of biggest numbers and accomplishments from his Basketball Hall of Fame career, and what’s next for the legendary coach.

1,217 wins

Auriemma became all-time leader wins with his 1,217 victory, passing recently retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. However, what’s impressive is that Auriemma did it in much quicker fashion, needing only 40 seasons to do it compared to VanDerveer’s 45.

Auriemma only needing 40 seasons shows how successful he has been during his tenure. He only had one losing season − his first at Connecticut − and he has a .882 winning percentage, the best of the eight college basketball coaches with at least 1,000 wins.

11 national championships

The biggest mark of success, Auriemma has won 11 championships in his tenure, the most of any coach men’s or women’s. UConn won its first title in 1995 and it’s last in 2016, meaning during that stretch it won 11 of the 22 possible national championships.

During that stretch, the Huskies have one three-peat and women’s basketball’s only four-peat. When UConn makes the national championship game, it’s practically a lock for it to win; they are 11-0 in the title game.

23 Final Fours

For more than two decades, UConn has nearly been a shoe-in to make the Final Four with 23 appearances − the most in college basketball.

After sporadic appearances in 1991, 1995 and 1996, UConn went on long stretches with making the Final Four. It made five consecutive appearances from 2000-04, and an amazing 14 in a row from 2008-22 (excluding the canceled 2020 tournament). The Huskies also made last season’s Final Four.

6 perfect seasons

Six of those 11 national championships came with perfect seasons. They happened in:

  • 1994-95: 35-0
  • 2001-02: 39-0
  • 2008-09: 39-0
  • 2009-10: 39-0
  • 2013-14: 40-0
  • 2015-16: 38-0

111 consecutive wins

Auriemma owns the longest win streak in college basketball when his team won 111 straight games from 2014-17, a Division I record. The streak started on Nov. 23, 2014 and went all the way until they lost in the 2017 Final Four. During that streak, the Huskies won two national championships.

59 conference championships

Connecticut has been the class of the conference with 59 combined conference championships − 29 conference tournament and 30 regular-season titles. The Huskies have been in the Big East and American Athletic Conference under Auriemma, and an impressive feat was when UConn was in the American Athletic from 2013-20, it never lost a conference game.

Currently, the Huskies have won 11 consecutive conference tournament titles.

27 All-Americans

The first All-American under Auriemma was Rebecca Lobo in the 1994-95 season, and Huskies have continuously been among the top players in the country since then. What’s remarkable is of the 27 All-Americans selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, 17 of them were multi-year selections. That includes Maya Moore-Irons, who was an All-American all four seasons.

5 WNBA No. 1 draft picks

The success in college led to five former Huskies becoming No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft, the most top selections of any school. They are:

  • Sue Bird: 2002
  • Diana Taurasi: 2004
  • Tina Charles: 2010
  • Maya Moore: 2011
  • Breanna Stewart: 2016

Another one could be on the way next season with current Huskies guard Paige Bueckers expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft.

45 WNBA draft picks

Including the No. 1 selections, 45 Huskies have been selected in the WNBA draft. From 2009 to 2020, at least one UConn player was selected in each draft.

2 Olympic gold medals

Outside of college ball, Auriemma was the head coach for Team USA in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. He achieved perfection in Olympic play with 8-0 records in each year en route to two gold medals. There have been 10 Connecticut women’s players that have played in the Olympics for the United States.

What’s next for Geno Auriemma?

Is there more for Auriemma to accomplish?

Earlier this year, the head coach didn’t think he’d ever break the wins record with VanDerveer ahead of him, but now he stands alone with more wins coming his way this season. He likely has a few more years as well to pile wins up after he signed a contract extension in June that keeps him in Storrs through the 2028-29 season.

The Huskies are again a favorite to reach the Final Four and contend for a national championship. If Auriemma is able to lock up championship No. 12, would he continue to coach, or could the 70-year-old leave the game on top of the sport?

“Really, what more is there for him to do?” Rebecca Lobo told USA TODAY Sports. “No one else is ever going to win 11 (championships). It’s not like he has to get 12 to prove himself. No one else is going to go to 23 Final Fours and definitely no team is ever winning 111 games again. 

“But that’s not what it’s about. For him, it’s all about how can help these players experience these moments, how can I help them become better people and players?”

Contributing: Lindsay Schnell

Malkamaki Wins Back-to-Back World Titles

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By: DuPaul Athletics

The Blue Demon brings home her second gold

KOBE – DePaul Track and Field’s Noelle Malkamaki won her second consecutive gold at the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships, early Thursday morning. The Blue Demon successfully defended her World title after achieving a final mark of 13.12m. 

This is a back-to-back win for the Blue Demon, after she dominated her first World title last year, claiming gold in the women’s F46 shot put at her world championship debut last year. Malkamaki broke the world record three times during the event, before her final throw of 13.32m. 

In March, Malkamaki competed for a Team USA roster spot at the 2024 U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Championships in Walnut, Calif., dominating the women’s F46 shot put and taking home a national title with a final mark of 13.21m. 

UP NEXT: Following the World Championships, Malkamaki will turn her attention to the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials, July 18-20 in Miramar, Fla. with the hopes of earning a berth on Team USA at the Paralympic Games.

Gymnast Morgan Price becomes first HBCU athlete to win national collegiate title

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By Cara Tabachnick | CBS News

Gymnast Morgan Price became the first athlete from a historically Black college or university team to win a national collegiate championship on Friday.  

The Fisk University student clinched the title with an all-around score of 39.225 – and became “the first USAG Collegiate National Champion from an HBCU! ” said USA Gymnastics. She was among athletes from 12 college teams joining the competition at the USA Gymnastics’ 2024 Women’s Collegiate National Championships in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Price joined the first HBCU intercollegiate team at Nashville’s Fisk University in 2023 after graduating from high school. She initially signed onto Arkansas before switching to attend Fisk, ESPN reported, after Coach Corrine Tarver asked her the simple question: “Do you want to make history?”

Since forming, the gymnastics team has garnered high-profile media attention, competed on ESPN and has sold out meets.

“I have learned that it is enjoyable to be around your culture. Since we are the first, we have a lot of eyes on us, and our support system is excellent. Seeing the fans and little girls cheering us on was super fun,” Price said in 2023.

Her team celebrated her win with a social media post saying, “THE PRICE IS RIGHT. Etch her name in the HISTORY BOOKS.”

Price will compete on Sunday in the Individual Event finals on vault, bars and floor.

South Carolina defeats Iowa 87-75 to win national championship and complete perfect season

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With undefeated South Carolina jolted onto an unfamiliar backfoot, coach Dawn Staley looked toward her bench to remedy an early 11-point deficit to Iowa — more specifically, she looked toward Tessa Johnson.

The freshman guard outshone her six-point scoring average all tournament long and was a revelation in relief for the Gamecocks. With a team-high 19 points and three triples, Johnson led South Carolina to a slim halftime lead and a dominant third quarter, helping the Gamecocks claim their second national title in three years, 87-75, and cap off a perfect season.

The role players were rolling from the opening tip, as Kate Martin and Sydney Affolter gave Iowa a quick 7-0 lead, but Caitlin Clark scored 13 in a row from all over the court. The newly crowned AP Player of the Year drained a pair of 3s, was fouled on two more attempts and converted at the rim to give her Hawkeyes a 20-9 lead by the first media timeout. Clark finished with 30 points (10 of 28 shooting), eight rebounds and five assists in her last college game.

Iowa’s centers Hannah Stuelke and Addison O’Grady admirably limited star Gamecock post Cardoso to just 2 of 6 shooting in the first quarter, but the Brazilian behemoth partnered with Johnson and inevitably found her opening. Johnson — who led the Gamecocks’ 36-0 bench scoring advantage — took up the mantle for South Carolina and its top-ranked defense. The freshman guard poked away a pair of steals, turning each into transition baskets, before Cardoso finished through contact to tie the game at 27.

That top-ranked defense also took exception to Clark’s early mastery, and a savvy defensive play from Raven Johnson dispossessed Clark and gave the Gamecocks an easy two points before halftime.

South Carolina bottled up this late-half momentum for a roaring start out of the locker room. Chloe Kitts ensured her spot on the floor with two straight baskets out of the intermission, and Te-Hina Paopao nailed a pull-up jumper to give her Gamecocks a 55-46 lead and force Iowa coach Lisa Bluder to burn a quick timeout. 

Cardoso also hauled a career-high 17 rebounds, leading an overwhelming South Carolina rebounding effort that started to wear on the Hawkeyes. The Gamecocks enjoyed a 24-11 rebounding advantage in the second half, including six offensive boards, and a plus-6 advantage in second chance points helped South Carolina maintain its lead.

Paopao nailed a 3 to begin the fourth quarter, one of her three long-range bombs Sunday, and a familiarly balanced South Carolina scoring attack — seven Gamecocks made at least three field goals — proved too much for a late Hawkeyes rally. 

How a small Illinois college became a women’s wrestling powerhouse

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Northern Public Radio | By Peter Medlin

North Central College in Naperville — a small liberal arts school of fewer than 3,000 students — has become one of the premier women’s wrestling programs in the country. And the program only started five years ago.

Last spring, the North Central team took home their first national title. And three Cardinals wrestlers secured individual championships on top of that.

Yelena Makoyed won her third consecutivenational championship in 2023 AND was named the first-ever USA Wrestling Women’s College Wrestler of the Year.

She’s also one of at least six North Central women’s wrestlers who will compete at the Olympic Trialslater this spring with a shot to make it to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this July.

Makoyed andNCC head coach Joe Norton understand the significance of the opportunity.

“That’s the pinnacle of our sport,” said Norton. “It’s not the NFL or the NBA or whatever. And you can go to a Division-3 school and qualify for the Olympic trials? There’s not a lot of dudes going D-3 and going to the NFL.”

But, just a few years ago, when the program just began, there was no hardware Norton could point to during the recruiting process. No national titles. No Olympics. Just a small, Division-3 school in the Midwest with a good men’s program and without any scholarships to offer.

“We were just selling dreams back then,” he said.

Makoyed remembers his pitch very well.

“It was like, ‘I love wrestling. I want to coach, I want to start a woman’s program.’ And we kind of just had to have faith that he would follow through,” she said.

To make recruiting more complicated, girl’s wrestling wasn’t an official IHSA sport at the high school level in Illinois until just 3 years ago. So, there weren’t many local programs to pull from.

Makoyed is from California. She didn’t start wrestling until high school. Her school didn’t have enough girls for their own team, so they’d practice with the boys’ team and then compete against other girls in tournaments.

“And I honestly liked it like that,” she said. “Because the coaches treated us equally, the same as the guys, and it was really challenging but it made us really strong.”

She says she wasn’t that heavily recruited, since she started so late. She didn’t really know about many programs with women’s teams until she got the call from coach Norton.

Over the course of her college career Makoyed has seen women’s wrestling grow exponentially. There’s more opportunity in high school. There are more and more colleges at every level with women’s programs. It’s listed as an Emerging Sport by the NCAA, meaning it’s on track for an official NCAA Championship soon.

The North Central program has taken off too. That first year in 2019, they had 9 wrestlers. Now they have 52 women from nearly two dozen different states, and 21 All-Americans on the roster.

But, with the women’s wrestling scene becoming stronger and stronger, that comes with new challenges for a small school like North Central.

Division-3 schools can’t offer athletic scholarships. Norton says they’re competing against Division-1 & 2 programs that can offer full-ride scholarships and high-end gear sponsorships. But, Norton stresses, the scholarship doesn’t make you a better wrestler — it’s the coaches and training.

“’Well, coach, this school is free. I’m on a full ride.’ All right, well, that doesn’t put you in the Olympic trials, that doesn’t put you on top of the podium at the NCAA championships,” he said.

And the competition is tougher. This year, the University of Iowa started a women’s program. Makoyed says it’s a huge deal. Iowa has one of the most successful Division-1 men’s programs in the nation.

Amani Jones, another All-American on the team, says competing against the likes of Iowa keeps them motivated. They still have something to chase, even when defending their national championship.

“We just won the national tournament, and I feel like we don’t have the credit we deserve still,” said Jones. “Everyone expects them to win. So, I like it. It feels like we’re still the underdog going after them.”

The Cardinals clinched their second-consecutive regional title. The North Central team looks to bring home back-to-back championships at the national tournament coming up March 8 and 9.

Just five years ago, Coach Norton was selling dreams to Makoyed and the other women joining the brand-new program. Now, those Olympic dreams are reality. The national championships are on the shelf. And the chance to compete at the highest level is right in front of them.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark breaks ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich’s NCAA Division I scoring record

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By Phil Helsel and Rebecca Cohen | NBC News

Clark on Feb. 15 became the leading career scorer for NCAA women when she passed Kelsey Plum’s 3,527 career points, set in 2017.

Two weeks after she broke the record for women, Caitlin Clark has become NCAA Division I basketball’s overall top scorer, period.

The Iowa Hawkeyes star went into Sunday’s game against the Ohio State Buckeyes needing 18 points to break “Pistol Pete” Maravich’s record of 3,667 career points, which stood for more than 50 years. And with a second-quarter free throw, she became the top-scoring player — man or woman — in NCAA basketball history.

By the time the final buzzer rang out in Sunday’s game — in which the Hawkeyes beat the Buckeyes 93-83 — Clark had scored 35 points.

Clark’s Sunday total sets the new NCAA scoring record at 3,685 points.

Following the free throw that broke the scoring record, Clark said the record wasn’t on her mind, “but then when they announced it and everybody screamed, that’s when I knew,” she said in an interview with Fox reporter Allison Williams.

Clark said in a postgame interview with Williams that her team “came out and dominated” against the Buckeyes.

“I’m just proud of our girls,” Clark said. “It was a fun, dominant win for us. I thought we played really well.”

Clark, in an interview during her Senior Night ceremony, said she is “very grateful” after starting her career at Iowa “playing in front of absolutely no one during COVID,” and “now it’s impossible to get a ticket to get in the door to our games.”

“I think the people that have made it the most special, obviously my teammates, my coaches,” Clark said. “But it isn’t what it is without all of you,” she continued, gesturing to the cheering crowds of fans.

“I mean that and I thank you,” Clark said. “This is special. I don’t know if you guys realize what you’re doing for women’s basketball and women’s sports in general, but you’re changing it. You’re helping us change it.”

“I’ve put on an Iowa jersey for four years,” Clark said, “but like Coach Bluder and Kate [Martin] said, there’s still so much more fun to have and we’re not done.”

Clark, 22, earned the women’s record Feb. 15 when she scored her first 8 points in a game against Michigan and passed Kelsey Plum’s 3,527 points in a career that ended in 2017. Clark went on that night to score a career-high 49 points.

NCAA women leading career scorer
Iowa Caitlin Clark listens as the crowd cheers after she broke the NCAA women’s all-time scoring record in Iowa City on Feb. 15.Matthew Holst / Getty Images file

“I’m just really grateful, honestly, to be able to be here and make so many of my dreams come true,” Clark said after the history-making game, which Iowa won, 106-89.

She put up 33 points against Minnesota on Wednesday to cement her place atop the all-time career points among women to play for major colleges. The record had been held by Kansas great Lynette Woodard, who scored 3,650 points. (Woodard played from 1977 to 1981, when women’s sports were governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.)

Clark and Woodard had a chance to catch up and celebrate following Sunday’s game.

“It’s just a great time for women’s basketball,” Woodard said in an interview with Fox’s Williams following Clark’s new record.

“Caitlin is leading the way. As she was chipping away I said, ‘Records are made to be broken, but also, they’re made to be honored,’” Woodard said. “And because of her, my records are being honored.”

Woodard continued: “I came to this game knowing she had 18 points to get. I had 19, but I have no more playing time. So, hopefully I passed her the baton for her to go ahead and burst through that ceiling, and I’m so happy for her.”

The overall record comes on Clark’s final regular-season game as a college athlete. Though the 22-year-old senior has another year of eligibility, she announced earlier this week that she would enter the WNBA draft next month.

“It probably won’t hit me until a little bit later, but I’m just gonna enjoy with my family and my teammates and I’m just really thankful to be in this place,” Clark said when asked what emotions she was feeling ahead of her “official goodbye” to Hawkeye Nation.

Her final season has been full of big moments and big numbers: She’s averaging 32 points per game, but at least four times this season she has racked up 40 points. The 6-foot guard from West Des Moines is also averaging more than 8 assists per game, and she recently recorded the 1,000th assist of her college career, making her only the sixth woman in college basketball history to do so.

With the scoring record in hand, Clark is now doubtless looking to lead her team, 25-4, to a national title. Last year, they made a run to the NCAA title game, where they lost to LSU.

Maravich’s NCAA men’s scoring record was 3,667 points, which he set playing for LSU from 1968 to 1970.

After college, Maravich went on to an NBA career in which he was a five-time All-Star. He played for the Atlanta Hawks and the then-New Orleans Jazz and for one season with the Boston Celtics.Maravich died in 1988 in Pasadena, California, at 40 years old.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark breaks NCAA women’s hoops scoring record

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Michael Voepel, ESPN.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark had no specific plan for how she hoped to break the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record Thursday. But after doing so while also setting the Iowa Hawkeyes‘ single-game scoring record, Clark had to grin.

“You all knew I was going to shoot a logo 3 for the record,” said Clark, who now has 3,569 career points, 49 of them coming Thursday. And indeed, every aspect of the night seemed storybook perfect for the senior star.

Clark came into No. 4 Iowa’s game against Michigan with 3,520 points, needing eight to break the mark previously set by Washington‘s Kelsey Plum (3,527) from 2013 to 2017. Clark did it about as quickly as she possibly could.

She got the ball off the opening tip and drove in for a layup. Then she hit a deep 3-pointer from her favorite spot on the court, the left side. An even deeper 3-pointer from the same side — one of Clark’s signature shots from the logo — produced pandemonium from the packed house at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It took Clark just 2 minutes and 12 seconds to become the NCAA record holder. By the end of Iowa’s 106-89 victory over the Wolverines, she had also bested Megan Gustafson’s school record of 48.

“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.”

EDITOR’S PICKS

This was Clark’s fourth career game scoring 45 points or more, and she had 13 assists. In total, she scored or assisted on 79 of Iowa’s 106 points (74.5%).

“It really is hard to stop Caitlin Clark,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said.

“I think she does enjoy it,” she added of how Clark seems to shine the brightest in the biggest moments. “If you work that hard at your craft, don’t you want to share it with everybody? Don’t you want to express it?”

Both Clark and Bluder had said coming into the game that they didn’t anticipate a stoppage of play when the record came. However, Iowa took a timeout, and Clark’s teammates gathered with her in a joyous group hug on the court. Clark’s broad smile told the story of the night: the chase record she said never felt like a burden was now hers to celebrate.

She was far from done, though. Clark went 8-of-10 from the field — 5-of-7 from 3-point range — in the first quarter, scoring 23 points. It was the most points she has scored in any first quarter in her Iowa career, and the second most of any quarter. She had 25 in the fourth quarter of a loss to Michigan on Feb. 6, 2022.

From there, it was just a matter of how high she would go Thursday.

“Honestly, warming up, my shot just felt good,” Clark said. “So I knew it was going to be one of those nights, and I kind of played with a little bit more pep in my step. I knew that’s what this team needed coming off a loss.”

Clark had 31 points Sunday at Nebraska as the Hawkeyes were upset 82-79. But there was nothing the Wolverines could do to prevent Clark from taking over Thursday. Bluder praised Michigan, saying that as hard as the Wolverines battled in the game, they also gave Clark a gift and wrote congratulatory notes to her.

Not Done Yet

Iowa has four regular-season games remaining before an anticipated postseason run, giving Caitlin Clark more shots at history. She is:

• 81 points shy of passing Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard. Woodard (3,649) set the AIAW major-college record at Kansas from 1978 to 1981 before the NCAA began governing women’s athletics.

• 99 points shy of passing Hall of Famer Pete Maravich (3,667) for the most points in Division I history (men’s and women’s).

• 316 points shy of passing Hall of Famer Pearl Moore. Moore (3,884) set the overall AIAW record at Francis Marion from 1975 to 1979.

• 258 points shy of passing Kelsey Plum (1,109 in 2016-17) for the most points in a season in Division I history.

• On pace to be the first player in Division I history to lead the nation in scoring in three different seasons (already done in 2020-21 and 2021-22).

— ESPN Stats & Information

Clark could reach even more scoring milestones this season. The AIAW large-school women’s record — set just before the NCAA era by Kansas‘ Lynette Woodard from 1977 to 1981 — is 3,649 points. The NCAA men’s record is 3,667 by LSU‘s Pete Maravich from 1967 to 1970, before freshman eligibility in college basketball.

There also is a chance the AIAW overall record — 3,884 points, set by Francis Marion’s Pearl Moore from 1975 to 1979 — could be in play for Clark, depending on how far Iowa advances in the postseason. Clark is currently averaging 32.8 points for the 23-3 Hawkeyes, who have four regular-season games left.

Clark is already the first Division I women’s player to reach 3,000 points and 1,000 assists. But records and milestones are just part of her story. She is a generational talent who is growing her sport’s popularity.

“My favorite athletes are those who are champions in sports and champions in life, and Caitlin Clark is one of those athletes,” tennis champion and women’s sports advocate Billie Jean King told ESPN.

“She is the hottest star in basketball — all of basketball, and not just women’s basketball — and with that comes a heavy responsibility to be a leader on and off the court. She gets it, and that is part of the reason she will have an opportunity to be one of the best in her sport and a role model for future generations.”

There is a lot on the shoulders of the just-turned-22-year-old, but Clark looks as if she’s having the time of her life. She plays with the same passion, confidence and joyful flair she first brought to the court as a college freshman in 2020, when games were mostly played in near-empty arenas because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, the “Caitlin Clark Show” is one of the most sought-after tickets in sports. Fans of all ages call out her name and wear her No. 22 jersey. Parents drive their children hundreds of miles to watch Clark. Police escort her to and from the arena on game days, and on and off the court.

NCAA rule changes regarding name, image and likeness have allowed Clark to appear in national advertising campaigns. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes complimented her game while talking to media in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, widely considered the best shooter in NBA history, has praised Clark’s shooting form and poise.

“Caitlin’s special,” said Curry, one of the players — along with the WNBA’s Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Plum and Sabrina Ionescu — after whom Clark has modeled her game. “The record speaks for itself, and it’s cool. From a scoring perspective, from a shooting perspective, just doing what she’s doing — she could pick anybody that she talks about in terms of being an inspiration. If she models something of her game after me, I don’t take that for granted.”

ESPN analyst, 1995 UConn national champion and 1996 Olympian Rebecca Lobo said Clark and Curry have similar qualities that make them both successful and appeal to a wide range of fans.

“Caitlin is the whole package,” Lobo said. “She’s playing the game a way we haven’t seen before by a woman. We’ve not seen someone take that many shots from quite that distance and hit them at such [a high percentage].

“And she’s like Steph Curry — he’s charismatic and he’s not a physical giant. So every kid can visualize themselves as Caitlin Clark. It’s not like, ‘Well, to play like her I’d have to be 6-4 or 6-5.’ Caitlin is 6-0, but you actually don’t have to be that tall to try to do the things she does.”

The West Des Moines, Iowa, native opted to stay in her home state for college, leading Iowa to the past two Big Ten tournament titles and the 2023 women’s Final Four. Last season, she broke the record for scoring in an NCAA tournament (191 points), had the first 40-point triple-double in NCAA postseason history and led Iowa to an upset of undefeated No. 1 overall seed and defending champion South Carolina in the national semifinals.

Iowa fell to LSU in the championship game, which drew a record 9.9 million viewers on ABC. The 2023 NCAA tournament catapulted Clark to another level of popularity. That has continued to build since the Hawkeyes’ preseason game in October at Iowa’s football stadium, which drew 55,646 fans, a single-game attendance record for women’s basketball.

“You need superstars in sports,” Julie Foudy, an Olympic and Women’s World Cup soccer champion, told ESPN. “Mia [Hamm] was our superstar. She was shy and introverted. Caitlin seems more comfortable dealing with all the attention.

“But Mia then, as Caitlin does now, also recognized the significance and importance of her popularity. The value of it, not just individually but collectively, and how so many other women could benefit from her stardom.”

Clark could stay another season at Iowa, because of the COVID-19 waiver from 2020-21, or she could declare for the 2024 WNBA draft, where she is certain to be the No. 1 pick. Clark said she will wait to make that decision until after this season.

The Carver-Hawkeye crowd chanted, “One more year!” at the conclusion of Thursday’s game.

“I paid them,” Bluder joked. “I thought it was a pretty good chant.”

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For now, Clark is focused on trying to win Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships for Iowa, and making a return trip to the Final Four. And with every additional point she scores, she will add to her own NCAA record.

Clark said that what made her the most emotional after the game was the congratulatory messages that were played on the arena’s video screen from her coaches, teammates and family.

“They’ve seen me go through some really hard losses and some really great wins,” Clark said of her parents and two brothers. “They’ve been there pushing me to be my very best and allowing me to dream ever since I was a young girl. I didn’t plan on crying tonight, but it got me a little bit.

“I’m so thankful every single day, because I’m playing in front of 15,000 people. I get to do it with my best friends. I get to play the game that I absolutely love more than anything.”

Women’s wrestling moves toward NCAA championship status, projected for winter 2026

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by Corbin McGuire, NCAA

Women’s wrestling on Wednesday took a big step toward becoming the 91st NCAA championship sport, with its projected first NCAA championship occurring in winter 2026. 

The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics voted at its meeting Wednesday to recommend Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to add a national collegiate women’s wrestling championship. The Association-wide committee oversees the Emerging Sports for Women program, which includes women’s wrestling. 
“We are excited to recommend women’s wrestling as the 91st NCAA championship sport,” said Ragean Hill, chair of the Committee on Women’s Athletics and executive associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Charlotte. “We are extremely proud of the work that USA Wrestling has done to make this a reality in such a short period of time. Also, a special thank you to the men’s wrestling community for believing in our young women and championing this process.” 

Following the committee’s recommendation, the projected timeline to add a women’s wrestling championship is:

  • Each division is expected to review the recommendation and sponsor a proposal by its respective 2024-25 legislative cycle deadline.
  • The recommendation also includes establishing a Women’s Wrestling Committee, which would begin its work in January 2025, to allow time to prepare for a championship in winter 2026. 
  • If sponsored, the divisions are expected to vote on the proposals during the 2025 NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Jan. 15-18. 
  • If adopted on that timeline, the first women’s wrestling championship would be held in winter 2026. 

Before a women’s wrestling national collegiate championship can be established, funding must be considered by the appropriate financial oversight committees among other competing priorities during the relevant annual budget development cycle.

These required next steps and timeline are consistent with past sports added as national collegiate championships through the Emerging Sports for Women program.

“USA Wrestling is excited that the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics has recommended women’s wrestling to become an official NCAA championship,” said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, one of the national governing bodies of women’s wrestling. “As part of the coalition of wrestling organizations that has supported women’s wrestling through the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women process, this is a huge milestone for our sport and for our NCAA women student-athletes. We look forward to working with the NCAA leadership in the coming months during the approval process, with the goal of having the first NCAA Women’s Wrestling National Championships in the 2025-26 season.” 

If approved by NCAA members, women’s wrestling will become the sixth sport to earn NCAA championship status through the Emerging Sports for Women program, established in 1994 based on a recommendation from the NCAA Gender Equity Task Force. It would join rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003) and beach volleyball (2015).

“Wrestle Like a Girl is thrilled that the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics has recommended women’s wrestling to become an official NCAA championship sport,” said Sally Roberts, CEO of Wrestle Like a Girl, one of the national governing bodies of women’s wrestling. “This momentous occasion further empowers women in sports and brings us closer to fulfilling the promise made 51 years ago with the passage of Title IX. With the many battles won, women’s wrestling will be rightfully enshrined with dignity and recognition as an NCAA championship sport for women. It is a victory for all the athletes, supporters and allies who have worked passionately to make this dream a reality. The tireless efforts have paid off, and we are proud to stand with our sisters in sports to celebrate this accomplishment. This is a significant step forward in women’s empowerment, and we are honored to be part of it.”

Before the committee can make a recommendation to add a championship for an emerging sport, 40 schools must sponsor it at a varsity level and meet the sport’s minimum competition and participant requirements. Women’s wrestling, which became an emerging sport in 2020, eclipsed that number in the 2022-23 academic year. 

“The rise in sponsorship and participation numbers for women’s wrestling is yet another proof point of the rapid growth of women’s sports. The sport is also a growing Olympic pipeline, helping produce multiple medalists at the 2020 Games,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “The NCAA is excited to continue investing in the sport to help it grow and provide more opportunities for student-athletes.” 

Added Maddie Avila, a sophomore women’s wrestler at North Central (Illinois): “I think it represents our hard work — all the blood, sweat and tears that we’ve put into this sport. We have to put countless hours into this sport, and we are working just as hard as the men, so it will be really awesome, for women’s sports in general, to have women’s wrestling represented by the NCAA at the championship level.”

According to the latest sports sponsorship and participation data, nearly 800 student-athletes competed in women’s wrestling across 51 teams in 2022-23. More than 70 schools reported that they intended to sponsor the sport for the 2023-24 academic year. 

College women’s wrestling also boasts a diverse student-athlete population. Per NCAA demographics research, 43% of the student-athletes on women’s wrestling rosters are minorities, which is tied for the fourth-highest percentage among NCAA women’s sports. 

Current NCAA women’s wrestlers compete in a season-ending national competition that is organized by the coalition of wrestling organizations. The National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships are set for March 8-9 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Five other sports are currently in the Emerging Sports for Women program: acrobatics and tumbling, equestrian, rugby, stunt and triathlon. Learn more about them and the program here. 

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