Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have had a friendly rivalry since Reese and the LSU Tigers beat Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in last year’s NCAA championship.
On Thursday, Clark broke the scoring record for women’s college basketball by, appropriately, splashing a 3-pointer from the logo. She topped Kelsey Plum with the triple and scored a career-high 49 points to push her total to 3,569 (and counting).
Afterward, Reese congratulated Clark on X (formerly Twitter).
“KEEP BREAKING RECORDS & MAKING HER-STORY!” Reese wrote, quoting the Iowa Women’s Basketball account with black and yellow hearts and a fire emoji.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Clark is now 98 points behind Pete Maravich for the all-time scoring record in men’s and women’s hoops.
Clark’s rivals tend to admire her, even though competing against her is a headache. After top-ranked South Carolina defeated Tennessee 66-55 on Thursday, Hall of Fame coach Dawn Staley asked if Clark broke the record.
Reporters informed Staley she had.
“How many did she score tonight?” Staley asked.
A reporter answered that Clark scored 23 points in the first quarter alone.
“God, no,” Staley said, drawing laughs from the room. “No suspense, right?”
Reese told Women’s Health in a recent feature about her turbulent journey that she and Clark have a rivalry similar to legendary stars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, whose Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively, locked horns during the ’80s.
“I love that we’re able to compete and still be cool after, regardless of the outside noise,” Reese said. “People even say Magic [Johnson] and Larry Bird, that era [of basketball] and how it was. If that’s who we are, then okay, cool…. I think we’re both happy about what’s going on.”
The rivalry gained steam during the NCAA title game when Reese did Clark’s “you can’t see me” celebration at the Iowa star, waving her hand in front of her face and pointing to her ring finger as the Tigers wound down their championship.
Afterward, Clark emphasized that she didn’t think Reese should be criticized “at all” for the celebration.
“I think Angel’s great,” Clark told The Sporting News in December. “I think that’s why so many people tuned in to watch the game, because there were so many great players.
“Honestly, it wasn’t just me and Angel that were great on the court. Neither one of us would have been in the national championship game if it was that way,” she continued. “I had really great teammates. She had really great teammates that really went off in the national championship game, and that’s why we struggled to guard them.”
For her part, Reese said in October that she “loves” Clark.
“We’ve been competing since we were in AAU,” Reese said. “It was always fun, always competitive. One day, hopefully, we could even be teammates. She is a great player, shooter, person and teammate.”
Iowa defeated Michigan 106-89 behind Clark’s 49 points on Thursday. The No. 4 Hawkeyes are 23-3 this season. No. 13 LSU defeated Alabama 85-66 last Sunday.
The Tigers take on Texas A&M on Monday starting at 7 p.m.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.