No. 2 Iowa defeats Penn St. Hannah Stuelke scores 47, and Caitlin Clark is within 39 points of the scoring record.

With 39 more points to break Kelsey Plum’s record for the most career points in NCAA women’s basketball, Clark will have 3,489 points in her career.

“We were just trying to win the game,” said Iowa coach Lisa Bluder when asked about Clark’s pursuit of the record. “It’s going to happen. That’s not important. It’s important to win this game.”

Iowa’s next game is at Nebraska on Sunday, and on Thursday, they host Michigan.

“I would rather she break it at home,” Bluder said. “Our fans deserve that. But believe me, our No. 1 priority will be to win the game at Nebraska.”

In addition to her career-high 12 turnovers, Clark, who was 8 of 23 from the field, had 15 assists for her 56th double-double.

Although Clark wasn’t made available in the postgame press conference, she told the Big Ten Network regarding the scoring record: “Whenever it happens, it happens. We’ve got a good Nebraska team (next), so we’ll be ready for them.”

Clark made sure to get the ball inside to Stuelke during the Penn State game, dishing out 11 assists on her teammate’s 17 of her 20 field goals attempts.

“I’m happy for Hannah, she deserves it,” Clark said. “We just gotta keep it rolling.”

Clark had a message for Stuelke when she left the court. “She said, ‘I expect you do this every game,’” Stuelke said, laughing.

Stuelke registered the second-highest scoring game in program history. Megan Gustafson, who plays for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, scored 48 points against Minnesota in 2018. Clark’s career high is 46 points against Michigan in 2022.

A 6-foot-2 sophomore, Stuelke went 13 of 21 from the free-throw line. She came into the game averaging 12.7 points.

“I think my confidence is going to come up a lot,” she said. “Now I can be more aggressive offensively, so that’s exciting.”

Stuelke made easy baskets by getting past Penn State’s defense.

She is a fantastic rim runner, without a doubt,” Penn State coach Carolyn Kieger remarked. “We were switching ball screens, and she continuously rolled down on our guards. She was, obviously, certainly efficient.”

Stuelke attributes her rapid improvement on the court to her track days.

“I just turn and go,” Stuelke said. “I ran track in high school, so I’m pretty fast. Just turn and go, get down there as fast as I can.”

Iowa (22-2, 11-1 Big Ten) maintained its lead in the conference standings with a fourth straight victory.

Ashley Owusu led Penn State (16-7, 7-5) with 18 points. Leilani Kapinus and Makenna Marisa had 12 points.

Clark had a difficult first quarter, going 2 of 7 from the field, forcing five turnovers, and drawing two fouls.

According to Kieger, “I thought our team did a pretty decent job on Caitlin in the first quarter.” “We got her in foul trouble and tried attacking her in the second quarter to get her the third foul, but we never really picked it up.”

In the first minute of the second quarter, Clark’s 3-pointer ignited a 12-3 run that put Iowa ahead 35–30. The Hawkeyes stayed in front after that, closing the half with a 14-5 run to take a 55-44 advantage at intermission.

With 6:19 remaining in the third quarter, Iowa took a 68-49 lead thanks to seven points from Stuelke in the second half.

Kate Martin added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Hawkeyes.

Penn State: To strengthen their resume for the NCAA tournament, the Nittany Lions could have benefited from a road victory over a top-5 squad. But they couldn’t get away from the Hawkeyes early when Clark was struggling.

Iowa: Clark appeared uneasy during the first quarter, but she calmed down as she began to make baskets in the second. Stuelke helped the Hawkeyes keep pace with the Nittany Lions until Clark got going and continued to dominate Penn State inside in the second half.