Iowa's Caitlin Clark wins second consecutive Wooden Award

Iowa standout Caitlin Clark made history once again on Tuesday by securing the John R. Wooden Award for the second year in a row, solidifying her status as the top women's college basketball player.

Clark earned the prestigious Naismith National Player of the Year award last week, just before her Hawkeyes took the court in the Women's NCAA Tournament Final Four.

Iowa secured a thrilling victory over UConn in the semifinals but fell short in the championship game, marking their second consecutive year as runners-up, as South Carolina completed a flawless championship season.

Among the other finalists for the Wooden Award were Cameron Brink from Stanford, Paige Bueckers from UConn, Hannah Hidalgo from Notre Dame, and JuJu Watkins from Southern California.

Clark, who is set to receive the award in Los Angeles this Friday, topped the nation in scoring average (31.6 points per game) and assists (8.9 per game), a remarkable feat as the first player to lead in both categories in back-to-back seasons.

This season, she shattered the NCAA women's career scoring record and became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I history, with an impressive 3,951 points, surpassing the legendary Pete Maravich.

Over her career, Clark also amassed 1,144 assists and 990 rebounds. Her 28.42 scoring average and 548 3-pointers are Division I records. She set new single-season marks with 201 3-pointers and 1,234 points this year.

Clark joins a select group of two-time winners of the Wooden Award Women's Player of the Year, including Seimone Augustus from LSU (2005, '06), Candace Parker from Tennessee (2007, '08), Maya Moore from UConn (2009, '11), Brittney Griner from Baylor (2012, '13), Breanna Stewart from UConn (2015, '16), and Sabrina Ionescu from Oregon (2019, '20).

Voting for the award took place from March 19 to 26.