At this point, it’s a matter of not “if” but “when” Caitlin Clark will break Kelsey Plum’s all-time career scoring record for women’s college basketball.
And after she scored 31 points through the first three quarters of Iowa’s matchup against Nebraska, “when” appeared to be on Sunday, as Clark entered the fourth quarter needing to score eight points to surpass Plum’s career mark of 3,527 points.
Considering the senior guard’s incredible scoring prowess, Clark setting the scoring record on Super Bowl Sunday appeared to be all but inevitable. So much so that Plum took to X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate the reigning AP Player of the Year on passing her seven-year-old record.
“@CaitlinClark22 Congratulations on the record, and really your entire season!” the Las Vegas Aces star point guard wrote. “I appreciate what you do for the game, much respect and love! See you at the next level, hopefully sooner than later.”
https://twitter.com/Kelseyplum10/status/1756771655664197684
Plum published her post at 3:06 p.m. ET — near the end of the fourth quarter of the Hawkeyes’ game. The only problem? Clark was held scoreless throughout the fourth quarter as Nebraska secured an 82-79 comeback victory. That left Clark eight points shy of surpassing Plum, who took to X to issue a retraction to her congratulatory post.
“My bad next game,” Plum posted along with a crying laughing face emoji.
https://twitter.com/Kelseyplum10/status/1756781083557794146?s=20
The timing of Plum’s original post was curious.
With the rivalry game between Iowa and Nebraska in its closing moments, it seemed clear that Clark would have to wait until the Hawkeyes’ next game — Thursday against Michigan — to break Plum’s record. Perhaps Plum had scheduled a tweet and forgot to follow up. Or most likely, there was a miscommunication with somebody acting on her behalf.
Or maybe — just maybe — Plum was needling Clark ahead of what could soon be one of the WNBA’s great rivalries. After all, the Washington product did reference Clark’s impending professional career when making her post.
In all likelihood, Plum — who apparently wasn’t actually watching the game — probably just got her signals crossed somewhere. But she also wouldn’t be the first women’s basketball player to set her sights on Clark.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.