Women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark earned praise from President Joe Biden and LeBron James after she became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer in men’s and women’s college basketball.
The Iowa Hawkeyes player netted 35 points against rival Ohio State on Sunday, propelling her team to victory.
It also brought her total career points to 3,685, beating previous record-holder Pete Maravich.
The game was attended by a host of stars, including rapper Travis Scott.
The college senior entered the game – her last of the regular season – needing 18 points to pass Mr Maravich, a Louisiana State University star who earned the moniker “Pistol Pete” after scoring 3,667 points from 1967 to 1970.
But Ms Clark accomplished the task by the end of the second quarter when she hit two free throws, eliciting huge cheers from the watching crowd.
After the star point guard and her teammates won the game against No. 2 Ohio State 93-83, Mr James, the star NBA player, and Mr Biden took to social media to congratulate Ms Clark.
“CONGRATS @CaitlinClark22 on becoming the All-Time leading scorer!!” Mr James wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Mr James also broke records this weekend, becoming the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 points.
Mr Biden said: “With 3,685 points and counting, you’ve made your school proud.”
Ms Clark broke additional records as the top-scoring female college player last week, surpassing the point totals set by Kelsey Plum and Lynette Woodard. Both women, who became professional basketball players in the WNBA after their college careers ended, attended Sunday’s game.
Other celebrities who came to witness NCAA history at Sunday’s game ranged from MLB Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan to actor Kevin Miles, who is known in the US as Jake from State Farm in the insurance company’s ads.
In the wake of her record-breaking moment, Nike released a new ad that features the Hawkeyes player. It recounted a host of her other accolades: conference player of the year, free-throw record, triple-double record and women’s all-time NCAA leading scorer.
“It takes a once-in-a-generation player to break a record that’s stood for generations,” Nike said.
