Iowa’s Victory Over LSU Shatters Record For Most-Watched Women’s Basketball Game

The Iowa Hawkeyes hit an all-time high in its triumph against the Louisiana State University Tigers in Albany, New York, on Monday as it broke the record for the most-watched women’s basketball game.

The game averaged 12.3 million viewers and peaked at 16 million, according to The Athletic . The numbers surpassed the previous record of 9.9 million average viewers and 12.6 million peak viewers when LSU won against Iowa in last year’s NCAA championship game.

Iowa’s 94-87 victory Monday was led by Caitlin Clark, who scored 41 points, marking the 13th 40-point-plus game in her career, The Washington Post reported . Clark also tied an NCAA tournament single-game record by scoring nine three-pointers in the game. The team will now advance to the Final Four for the third time in the university’s history.

“I sure am glad you’re leaving,” LSU Coach Kim Mulkey told Clark as she left the game Monday, according to The Post. “Girl, you something else. Never seen anything like it.” Clark will enter the WNBA draft after this season.

Clark’s record-breaking performance is far from her first. She remains the team’s all-time leading scorer, averaging 28.3 points a game. In February, she scored 49 points against Michigan , surpassing Kelsey Plum as the NCAA Division I all-time leading women’s scorer and breaking a 54-year record held by the late NBA star Pete Maravich for most points scored by a Division I basketball player, men’s or women’s.

“She is what we expected,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in 2020 after Clark’s debut in an Iowa Hawkeye victory. “She is so good with the ball in her hands, and she can score in so many different areas. She is going to get better…. I think you will have even more fun seeing her in the future