From the sidelines
Marty Gordon
The increase in popularity for women’s college basketball can be seen in our own backyard.
Cassell Coliseum was sold out not just for one game but as many as six this season. The “queens of the Cassell” did not disappoint. Their winning ways led to a lot attention on a sport that has been waiting for its due.
Women’s basketball received the increase in attention thanks to players like Caitlyn Clark (University of Iowa) and Angel Reese (LSU). At Tech, Liz Kitley and Georgia Amoore should also be congratulated for helping the sport. The Hokies brought the sport up to elite status, and we have to hope this is not a passing trend.
Clark turned not only the women’s game upside down but the college one in general.
Those accolades included:
Named preseason Big Ten Player of the Year
Unanimous AP preseason All-America selection
Became Iowa’s all-time leading scorer
Achieved most 30-point games by any man or woman in Division I in the past 25 seasons
Shared The Sporting News Athlete of the Year honors with Angel Reese of LSU
Became Big Ten’s all-time leader in assists
Became Iowa’s all-time leader in assists
Broke Big Ten Player of the Week conference record
Broke Big Ten all-time scoring record
Became Division I women’s career scoring leader
Broke Iowa’s single-game scoring record
Became all-time leader in points among major women’s college basketball playersSet Big Ten career record for 3-pointers
Set NCAA single-season record for 3-pointers
Became all-time NCAA Division I men’s and women’s scoring leader
Unanimous Big Ten Player of the Year
Named first-team All-Big Ten
Achieved most three-pointers in a single season by any male or female Division I player
Became the first Division I women’s player to score at least 1,000 points in two different seasons
Became career leading scorer in the Big Ten tournament
Named Most Outstanding Player in Big Ten tournament
Achieved most points in single season in Division I women’s history
Passed Temeka Johnson for the most career assists in NCAA tournament history
Passed Diana Taurasi for the most career 3-pt FG in NCAA tournament history
Tied Courtney Moses for the most threes in a game in NCAA tournament history
Became first player in NCAA tournament history with 3 career 40-point games
Passed Taylor Robertson for most career 3-pt FG in Division I history
Named Albany 2 Regional Most Outstanding Player
Won Naismith Player of the Year for the second year in a row
Won AP Player of the Year for the second year in a row
Achieved the most points in a single quarter of an NCAA championship game
Passed Chamique Holdsclaw for the most career NCAA tournament points
Clark will remembered as one the best to ever play the game. Hopefully, her popularity will encourage young girls everywhere to take up the sport.
It was the attention to her game that brought not basketball fans to the table or should we say to the coffee table to watch games this season and it showed in Iowa’s last two this past week.
The women’s championship game last year between Iowa and LSU reached 9.9 million viewers – the best rating ever for a women’s game at the time, and an increase of 103% from 2022 (4.85 million viewers). Iowa’s 94-87 victory over LSU this past week averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen.
The Iowa-LSU game’s record unseated the 1983 National Championship game that previously held the record with 11.86 million viewers.
The game had more viewers than any of the five World Series games from last year.
Women’s college basketball has come a long way baby and should only continue this climb. Who will be the next Caitlyn Clark or in our neck of the woods, Liz Kitley or Georgia Amoore? We see you.
