Dawn Plitzuweit was watching.
But then, who wasn’t? Iowa star Caitlin Clark scored 49 points Thursday in a blowout of Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of yet another sellout crowd. Her long pull-up three 2:12 into the game made her the NCAA’s highest-scoring women’s player ever, surpassing what Kelsey Plum did at Washington.
“That was impressive,” said Plitzuweit, the University of Minnesota women’s basketball coach. “What she’s done…I think I speak on behalf of women’s basketball, being involved in it. What she’s doing for the sport is absolutely phenomenal. It is.”
The Clark show has sold out visiting arenas all around the Big Ten. Minnesota will be no different, with the Hawkeyes visiting the Gophers on Feb. 28 and returning one week later for the conference tournament at Target Center.
Iowa’s game at Williams Arena has been a sellout since early December. You cannot buy a ticket from the U, only on the secondary market:
And it will cost you.
On StubHub Friday morning, the cheapest asking price for a ticket was a single seat available in the upper level above one end of the court. The asking price was $148.
The highest asking price were tickets close to the court in the lower bowl. One person was asking more than $1,500 per ticket.
For the Big Ten tournament, which runs March 6-10, an all-session general admission ticket costs $75 with tax and fees pushing the total cost to $131. That’s through the conference’s official web site.
People want to see Clark – who has scored 193 of her 3,569 (and counting) career points in six games vs. the Gophers – and they are apparently willing to pay for the honor.
Why not?
“It’s exciting,” said Gophers guard Janay Sanders. “People are finally realizing women’s sports can be fun to watch. With that comes attention. The game is growing.”
Sanders was watching Thursday. So was Gophers center Sophie Hart. They weren’t alone. Plitzuweit recalled growing up in rural Wisconsin, with her home’s TV attached to an antenna on the roof and not a cable box. As a youth she wasn’t able to watch Lynette Woodard score 3,649 points for the University of Kansas from 1977-81. This total was set before the NCAA sanctioned women’s basketball.
But Plitzuweit watched Sheryl Swoopes play in a Final Four. She remembers watching Jackie Stiles. For years the women’s Final Four has drawn fans and viewership. There have been one-off big nights; Plitzuweit was an assistant at Wisconsin when the Kohl Center was opened and the women’s team drew around 17,000 fans.
“But that wasn’t typical of women’s basketball,” she said. “Whereas now you’re watching it happen more consistently. It’s great for our sport, for our fan base. It’s fun to be around.”
Hart agreed. “You see all the excitement she’s bringing to the sport right now,” she said of Clark.
And, perhaps, the people who shell out the big bucks for the Feb. 28 game will get to see another record. Clark is 80 points behind Woodard. This is another record she is almost certain to break.
But when? Iowa has two games – against Indiana and Illinois – before the Hawkeyes come here. There is a good chance Clark will surpass Woodard in Minnesota. Woodard won Olympic Gold and was the first woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. She was already pushing 40 by the time the WNBA formed, though she did play two seasons in the fledgling league.
It’s fitting, perhaps, that Clark — who has elevated the game — would catch Woodard on Williams Arena’s elevated floor.
“Decades ago women weren’t allowed to play sports,” Sanders said. “And now we are. And people are starting to buy into us playing those sports. I think it’s a super important time.”
