Caitlin Clark recorded a 34-point triple-double on the same day Iowa broke the women’s college basketball attendance record with 55,646 people in an exhibition game against DePaul on Sunday at the Hawkeyes’ football stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.
The “Crossover at Kinnick” saw Iowa defeat DePaul 94-72, with Clark tallying 34 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the outdoor contest.
“Special day inside Kinnick Stadium! Thank you to all who came out and helped us make HISTORY! Love you hawk fans… See you in Carver soon,” Clark wrote on social media, referring to Iowa’s basketball home, Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The previous attendance record for the sport was 29,619, when UConn defeated Oklahoma in the 2002 NCAA championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder had the idea for an outdoor exhibition after her team went to the NCAA championship game this past April, losing to LSU, and drew thousands of fans to celebrate its accomplishments upon returning home.
“You know, you can have an idea and it could fall flat if nobody shows up,” Bluder told reporters. “But, man, Hawk fans showed up (Sunday). Fifty-five thousand, breaking the record, getting to play outside. … It was a dream. It really was. It was just fabulous.”
Sunday’s record comes on the heels of Nebraska volleyball attracting 92,003 fans to the Cornhuskers’ football stadium for a doubleheader in August, smashing the record for the highest attendance at a women’s sporting event.
–Field Level Media