On a night when the countdown was on for Caitlin Clark’s inevitable eclipse of the NCAA scoring record, Hannah Stuelke was the Hawkeye who dropped 47 points in a 111-93 win over Penn State on Thursday night.
“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.”
Clark finished with 27 and will next travel to Nebraska on Super Bowl Sunday, 39 points away from Kelsey Plum’s record 3,527. After that, it’s back to Iowa City to host Michigan a week from today.
“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.”
While the likelihood of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd seeing 66 in one night from Clark was low, they were almost treated to history anyway, as Stuelke was just a point short of Megan Gustafson’s single-game record on 17 of 20 shooting. She added nine rebounds as the Hawkeyes dominated in the paint with a 56-30 scoring edge.
Hannah Stuelke said that she remembers growing up and looking up to Megan Gustafson. Now that she’s putting together that many points, she’s excited to be in that company.
“Knowing there’s little girls looking up to me… it’s amazing.”
— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) February 9, 2024“I think that’s what everybody’s been waiting for,” Clark told BTN after the game. “You know, she’s had glimpses of being really, really great like that, but we all know how good she is. And I’m just proud of her. She works so hard. She’s put in so much time. … To come out here and play like that is exactly what we needed. I think she dominated and to see her confidence grow like that and to see her smile like that, as a teammate you’re just really happy.”
Stuelke agreed that this performance will give her game a boost.
“I think my confidence is going to come up a lot,” said Stuelke, who came into the game averaging 12.7 points. “Now I can be more aggressive offensively, so that’s exciting.”
Kate Martin added 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Clark finished with 15 assists — 11 to Stuelke.
“She just has confidence in me,” Stuelke said. “She wants to keep me playing at my best.”
Hannah Stuelke has a career high 47 points
Unbelievable
— Blake Hornstein (@BlakeHornTV) February 9, 2024There have been countless great players to play at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
None has scored more than Hannah Stuelke's 4️⃣7️⃣ points last night. 💥
Sports Science Stat x @ifs pic.twitter.com/Q9JqUoii1J
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 9, 2024"We just have that love"
After leaving the game to a standing ovation, Caitlin was Hannah's biggest cheerleader, showing her how close she was to the record… and telling her she'd love to see that kind of performance every single night. pic.twitter.com/cGDbT0VmQ9
I asked Hannah Stuelke about coming one point away from the program single-game scoring record — and not calling for the ball on the last play. pic.twitter.com/FrjFeXJ1TO
— Adam Jacobi (@adam_jacobi) February 9, 2024Hannah Stuelke said that she remembered hearing the fans chant her name.
“I was trying not to smile on defense. I felt special.”
— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) February 9, 2024The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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