South Carolina coach Dawn Staley reacts to Caitlin Clark’s historic night: ‘God dog’

It was Caitlin Clark’s night Thursday inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, as the Iowa senior guard passed Kelsey Plum to break the NCAA Division I women’s basketball all-time scoring record.

It was a feat long coming, and one everyone wanted to know about it — including South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley.

Following No. 1 South Carolina’s win over Tennessee, Staley interrupted the media in her postgame news conference to ask whether Clark broke the scoring record. When she she learned how many points Clark scored in the first quarter alone — 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field — Staley was at a loss for words:

REQUIRED READING: Iowa star Caitlin Clark dazzles as only she knows how on record-setting night

“God dog,” Staley said. “Phew, no suspense right?”

Staley’s Gamecocks and Clark’s Hawkeyes have only had one head-to-head matchup, which came last year in the Final Four of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Clark led Iowa to a 77-73 win over South Carolina with 41 points, ending the Gamecocks’ perfect season and advancing to the national championship game against LSU.

Staley wasn’t the only person to remark on Clark’s historic night, either. The sports world at large lauded Clark’s performance, including Angel Reese of LSU, who congratulated the Hawkeyes and told her to “keep breaking records.”

Now Clark, who set a new career-high with 49 points in No. 4 Iowa’s win over Michigan, looks to break the next record on her list: LSU’s Pete Maravich’s NCAA all-time scoring mark of 3,667 points.