Caitlin Clark


Caitlin Elizabeth Clark is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association. Regarded as one of the greatest female collegiate players, Clark was twice named national female college basketball player of the year while playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes; she remains the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer. She has helped popularize women's basketball, a phenomenon dubbed the "Caitlin Clark effect".
Clark attended Dowling Catholic High School in her hometown of West Des Moines, Iowa, where she was named a McDonald's All-American and rated the fourth-best player in her class by ESPN. In her freshman season with Iowa, she led the NCAA Division I in scoring and earned All-American honors. As a sophomore, Clark was a unanimous first-team All-American and became the first women's player to lead Division I in points and assists in a single season. In her junior season, she was the national player of the year and led Iowa to its first national championship game, again leading Division I in assists and setting Big Ten single-season marks in points and assists. As a senior, she repeated as national player of the year and helped Iowa return to the national title game. She also set the Division I women's career and single-season record in points and three-pointers, broke the conference record in assists, and led the nation in points and assists.
At the youth international level, Clark won three gold medals with the United States, including two at the FIBA Under-19 Women's World Cup, where she was named Most Valuable Player in 2021.
Clark was selected first overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA draft. In her first season, she won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award and made the All-WNBA First Team and WNBA All-Star Game. She set league single-season and single-game records in assists, broke the rookie scoring record, and became the first rookie to achieve a triple-double.

Early life

Caitlin Elizabeth Clark was born on January 22, 2002, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Brent Clark, a vice president at a product company, and Anne Clark. Anne's father was the football coach and a school administrator at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines. Caitlin grew up in the city. She began playing basketball at age five and competed in boys' recreational leagues, because her father could not find a girls' league for her age group.
Clark also played softball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, and golf as a child before focusing on basketball. At age 13, she began playing several years ahead of her age group in girls' leagues. In sixth grade, she joined All Iowa Attack, an Amateur Athletic Union basketball program based in Ames, Iowa, and played for teams in the program until graduating from high school. She was coached by Dickson Jensen with Attack, and her AAU teammates included future Women's National Basketball Association player Ashley Joens. Clark drew inspiration from Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx, the closest WNBA team to her hometown, and often attended their games with her father. She admired All Iowa Attack alumnus Harrison Barnes and became a fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels after Barnes joined the program.

High school career

Clark played four years of varsity basketball for Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines under head coach Kristin Meyer. As a freshman, she averaged 15.3 points, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game. She earned Class 5A All-State third-team accolades from the Iowa Newspaper Association and All-Iowa honorable mention from The Des Moines Register. Clark led her team to a 19–5 record and the Class 5A state tournament, where they lost to eventual champions Valley High School in the first round. In her sophomore season, she averaged 27.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.3 steals per game, ranking second in the state in scoring. Clark was named first-team Class 5A All-State by the Iowa Print Sports Writers Association and Central Iowa Metro League Player of the Year by The Des Moines Register. She helped Dowling reach the Class 5A state quarterfinals and achieve a 20–4 record. After being the penultimate cut from the 12-player Team USA roster for the Under-17 FIBA World Cup in the summer of 2018, Clark used this as motivation and began developing her pull-up jump shot as well as her deep step-back. That same summer, she led the All Iowa Attack to win the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League championship, scoring 23 points in a 64–61 victory over the Cal Storm in the final.
On February 4, 2019, during her junior season, Clark scored 60 points in a 90–78 win against Mason City High School. Her 60-point game was the second-highest single-game point total in Iowa five-on-five girls' basketball history, surpassed only by Abby Roe in 1996. She also set the state single-game record with 13 three-pointers. On February 25, Clark set the Class 5A state tournament single-game scoring record with 42 points in a 75–70 triple-overtime win over Waukee High School in the quarterfinals. She helped Dowling reach the semifinals of the tournament and finish with a 17–8 record. As a junior, Clark led the state in scoring and averaged 32.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.3 steals per game. She was named Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year
and repeated as a Class 5A All-State first-team selection by the IPSWA. As a senior, Clark averaged 33.4 points, eight rebounds, four assists and 2.7 steals per game, leading the state in scoring for a second time. Her team finished with a 19–4 record and reached the Class 5A regional final, where they were upset by Sioux City East High School. Clark finished her career with the fourth-most points and the sixth-most three-pointers in Iowa five-on-five history. She was awarded Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, Des Moines Register All-Iowa Athlete of the Year, and Iowa Miss Basketball, while making the IPSWA Class 5A All-State first-team. Clark was selected to compete in the McDonald's All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic, two prestigious high school all-star games, but both games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In her first two years at Dowling, Clark was a starter on the school's varsity soccer team but focused on basketball for her final two years. In her freshman season, she scored 23 goals and was named to the Class 3A All-Iowa team by The Des Moines Register.

Recruiting

Clark was recruited by NCAA Division I basketball programs before starting high school, receiving her first letter of interest from Missouri State before seventh grade. At the end of her high school career, she was considered a five-star recruit and the fourth-best player in her class by ESPN. On November 12, 2019, Clark announced that she would commit to play college basketball for Iowa over offers from Iowa State and Notre Dame. Clark was drawn to the team's up-tempo style of offense and head coach Lisa Bluder's development of point guards. She also expected to immediately have a key role on the team with the departure of Kathleen Doyle, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year.

College career

2020–21: Freshman season

Clark entered her freshman season as Iowa's starting point guard. She assumed a leading role alongside starting center Monika Czinano; the duo was nicknamed "The Law Firm" by analyst Christy Winters-Scott. On November 25, 2020, she made her collegiate debut, recording 27 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in a 96–81 win over Northern Iowa. In her second game, on December 2, she posted her first double-double with 30 points and 13 assists in a 103–97 victory over Drake. On December 22, in a 92–65 victory over Western Illinois, she registered the first triple-double by an Iowa player since Samantha Logic did so in 2015. Despite shooting 3-of-15 from the field, Clark had 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists during the game. On January 6, 2021, she recorded 37 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in a 92–79 win against Minnesota. Clark posted a season-high 39 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in an 88–81 win over Nebraska on February 11, breaking the single-game scoring record for Pinnacle Bank Arena, the home venue of Nebraska. On February 28, she scored 18 points and had a season-high 14 assists in an 84–70 win over Wisconsin. At the end of the regular season, Clark was a unanimous Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten selection. She was a 13-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, setting a conference record, and led the Big Ten with five Player of the Week awards.
Clark helped Iowa achieve a runner-up finish at the Big Ten tournament, where she was named to the all-tournament team and recorded 37 assists, the most in the event's history. In the second round of the NCAA tournament, she posted 35 points, seven rebounds and six assists in an 86–72 win over Kentucky. She broke program single-game records for points and three-pointers in the tournament. Iowa reached the Sweet 16, where Clark scored 21 points in a 92–72 loss to first-seeded UConn. She was named a first-team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association, a second-team All-American by the Associated Press and made the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Coaches' All-America team. Clark became the first freshman to win the Dawn Staley Award, which honors the best Division I guard. She shared two major Division I freshman of the year awards with Paige Bueckers of UConn: the Tamika Catchings Award, presented by the USBWA, and the WBCA Freshman of the Year award. As a freshman, Clark averaged 26.6 points, 7.1 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game. She led the NCAA Division I in scoring and ranked second in assists and three-pointers per game. Her totals in points, assists, field goals and three-pointers also led Division I. She set program freshman records for points and assists and had the fourth-highest scoring average in Iowa history.