Women’s March Madness by the numbers: Watkins ahead of Clark’s 2-year point total. Now it gets tough

When Caitlin Clark set the NCAA’s career scoring record last season, JuJu Watkins was widely considered the player most likely to challenge it. She is on pace so far.

The two-time Associated Press All-American has scored more points than Clark did through two seasons, and she will be in strong position to threaten Kelsey Mitchell’s record two-year points total if No. 1 seed Southern California wins at least two games in the NCAA Tournament.

Watkins has 1,684 points in 65 games. She passed Clark’s two-year total of 1,662 in 62 games for Iowa when she scored 29 against UCLA in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. She needs 79 more to pass Mitchell’s total of 1,762 for Ohio State from 2014-16.

The chase for Clark’s career total of 3,951 gets much more difficult after this season. Clark’s scoring average went up each year, topping out at 31.6 per game, and she played in a total of 77 games as Iowa made it to the national championship game her junior and senior seasons. Her career average was 28.4 points over 139 games.

Assuming the improbable scenario of Watkins playing 74 more games to match Clark’s 139, she would have to increase her career average of 26 points per game to 30.6 the rest of the way.

A look at women’s March Madness by the numbers:

Not PARSE.LY: College sports

Virginia and Stanford each win a relay event at the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships

 

Crooks, Brown combine to lead Iowa State women to 68-63 First Four win over Princeton

 

Report finds that Stanford football coach mistreated female staff members

 

3

Ivy League teams in the tournament — Columbia, Harvard and Princeton — its most ever.

6

Schools making their first tournament appearances — Arkansas State, Fairleigh Dickinson, George Mason, Grand Canyon, UC San Diego and William & Mary.

11

UConn’s record number of national championships. The Huskies’ last title came in 2016, but they’ve reached 15 of the last 16 Final Fours.

15-18

William & Mary’s record, making the Tribe the only team with a losing record. The Tribe were 11-18 in the regular season and tied for ninth in the Colonial Athletic Association before rolling off four wins in four days in the conference tournament to earn their first bid.

16.7

Iowa’s drop in points per game in its first season without Clark. The Hawkeyes led the nation with 91 points per game last season. This year they average 74.3 to rank eighth in the Big Ten and 50th nationally.

24.9

Ta’Niya Latson’s nation-leading scoring average for Florida State.

30

Grand Canyon’s consecutive wins, the nation’s longest active streak.

43

Tennessee’s consecutive tournament appearances. The Lady Vols are the only school to play in every women’s tournament.

47%

Alyssa Durazo-Frescas’s make rate on 3-point shots for Grand Canyon. It’s the best mark for any player in the men’s or women’s tournaments. She’s made a nation-leading 124 of her 264 attempts.

55

Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes had the nation’s top two scoring performances of the season with an NCAA freshman-record 55 points in an overtime win over Auburn on Feb. 16 and 53 in a win over Florida on Jan. 30. Her average of 23.2 points per game is best among freshmen.

73.1%

UCLA star Lauren Betts’ field-goal accuracy over her last six games (49 of 67).

1982

Year of the first women’s tournament. Louisiana Tech beat Cheyney State 76-62 in the championship game. Current LSU coach Kim Mulkey was Tech’s starting point guard, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member is the only woman to win titles as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

18.9 million

Television viewership for the 2024 Iowa-South Carolina championship game. That’s nearly 4 million more viewers than the men’s championship game attracted.

139-6

Defending national champion South Carolina’s combined record while putting together four straight 30-win seasons.

1-360

Combined record of Nos. 14, 15 and 16 seeds. Harvard owns the lone victory, knocking off No. 1 overall seed Stanford 71-67 on the Cardinal’s home court as a No. 16 in 1998.

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