Her Hoop Stats Trivia Challenge, Volume IX: Records and Reveals and Returns, Oh My!
See how much you remember about a week that saw Caitlin Clark and Lauryn Taylor make history!
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What else is there to say about Caitlin Clark? Look, I could draft a 5,000-word ode to her greatness filled with more superlatives than a high school yearbook. That’s not going to happen because I want to be respectful of your time (Ok, perhaps I had plans with my wife yesterday, and writing a 20+ page paean about Caitlin Clark was understandably not an acceptable excuse for canceling said plans). Suffice it to say, she’s a generational player performing at an uber-high level under unimaginable pressure, and handling it all with admirable humility and grace. So, here’s to you, Caitlin Clark. Congratulations on the NCAA Division I scoring record!
You may be wondering whether there will be any questions involving Clark in this week’s Her Hoop Stats trivia challenge. Honestly, failing to do so would amount to trivia malpractice.
As always, just a friendly reminder that Substack doesn’t have the functionality to display the correct answer after you respond (the checkmark simply denotes which option you chose), so you’ll have to scroll to the bottom to discover the correct answers. Good luck!
Question 1. One of the next major NCAA Division I records within striking distance for Caitlin Clark is the single-season scoring record. As you might expect, Kelsey Plum is the current holder, with 1,109 points scored during the 2016-17 season. Who is No. 2 on the list? The player in question earned that spot by scoring 1,081 points last season.
Question 2. Caitlin Clark wasn’t the only NCAA player breaking records last week. Lauryn Taylor, a senior forward/center with Division II Francis Marion, recorded a stat line last Thursday that looked like something out of NBA Jam. Taylor dropped 34 points and set an NCAA record (across all three divisions) with how many rebounds in her team’s 85-62 win over North Greenville?
Question 3. Last week, 2021 WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones re-signed with the New York Liberty. (Veteran Her Hoop Stats trivia challenge players know what question is coming next!) What are the terms of Jones’ new deal?
Question 4. Last Thursday, the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee offered insight into what the final NCAA Tournament bracket will look like by revealing its top 16 teams. With five teams among the top 16, which conference was the most heavily represented?
Question 5. Despite being eligible for this year’s WNBA draft, UConn’s Paige Bueckers announced Friday night that she would be returning to Storrs next season. Bueckers is currently on track to become the third player in UConn women’s basketball history to average 20+ points per game over multiple seasons. Kerry Bascom, who accomplished the feat three times, is one of the players. Who is the other player? Hint: She won one title during her time at UConn and is a past winner of WNBA Rookie of the Year.
Question 6. Two-time WNBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Stefanie Dolson signed a two-year deal last week with which WNBA team?
Question 7. The following question has absolutely nothing to do with anything that happened last week, but I find it interesting, so here goes. Florida Gulf Coast is an endlessly fascinating team. Perennially one of the best mid-major teams in the country, the Eagles have led the nation in 3-point rate (the percentage of scoring attempts from beyond the arc) four seasons running. Instead of the traditional guard, forward, and center positions, FGCU lists what position name for each player on its roster, appropriate for the Eagles’ unique offensive style?
Question 8. In an early candidate for game of the year that saw four lead changes in the final 6.6 seconds, Oregon State knocked off UCLA 79-77 on a buzzer-beating three by whom?
Answers:
1. D - Maddy Siegrist - It’s a pretty special season when two players each drop 1,000 points. While Clark finished with 1,055 points last season, it was Siegrist who led Division I in scoring with 1,081 points during the 2022-23 campaign, just 28 points shy of Kelsey Plum’s record. Miami dashed any hopes of breaking the record after bouncing the Wildcats from the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet Sixteen.
2. B - 44 - Yes, 44. Taylor, who outrebounded the entire North Greenville team, 44-32, broke the NCAA single-game record of 40 rebounds previously held by Delta State’s Deborah Temple. Taylor set the record on the same night Caitlin Clark set the NCAA Division I women’s basketball scoring record. Interestingly, while Clark received much (deserved) attention for the new record, it was a Francis Marion alumna and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, Pearl Moore, who tallied 4,061 points during her career in the late 1970s before the NCAA recognized women’s collegiate sports.
3. A - 2 years, $385,000 total - Jones will earn $190,000 in the 2024 season and $195,000 in 2025.
4. B - Pac-12 - Stanford (No. 2), Colorado (No. 4), UCLA (No. 7), USC (No. 9), and Oregon State (No. 11) are the Pac-12’s teams in the top 16. As Her Hoop Stats bracketologist Megan Gauer noted in her reaction to the reveal for The Washington Post, the Pac-12 being represented by five teams underscores why it’s the best conference in the country this season.
5. A - Napheesa Collier - A member of the 2015-16 UConn national championship team and the 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year, Collier averaged 20+ points per game during the 2016-17 and 2018-19 seasons. Samuelson averaged 20+ points per contest once during her UConn career. Taurasi and Dangerfield never accomplished the feat.
6. C - Washington Mystics - Dolson is returning to Washington where she spent the first three seasons of her WNBA career.
7. B - Shooter - While Road Runner is in fact the position listed for Fairfield’s Meghan Andersen, FGCU’s roster lists everyone as shooters. However, very few of those shots are mid-range jumpers; it’s all layups or triples for FGCU. Only 1.5% of the Eagles’ field-goal attempts this season have come from the mid-range, last in D-I. In fact, across Division I, 1,286 players this season have attempted more mid-range jumpers than the entire FGCU team.
8. B - Talia von Oelhoffen - Oregon State earned its fifth top-25 win over its last six games (the exception being a 64-60 victory over unranked Oregon). UCLA’s Lauren Betts hit a jumper from the top of the key to give the Bruins a 77-76 lead with 1.1 seconds remaining. Von Oelhoffen responded with the game-winning triple.
How’d you do? Per usual, feel free to let us know in the comments. Thanks for playing and see you next week!
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Oregon State was already the underdog going into the UCLA game. Gill Coliseum was filled to the rafters. Largest crowd of the season. One minute into the second quarter Oregon States best play Reagan Beers goes down with a major injury. She’s out the rest of the game. You could hear a pin drop in Gill. Without a doubt lowest moment of the season. Teammates: Talia, Timea, Lilly, AJ, Donovyn, Kelsey, Kennedie, and Dominika regrouped, put team before self, playing inspired basketball willed those last 6.6 to happen. After Bett’s go ahead shot with 1.1 seconds left the entire UCLA celebrated their win at center court. Wait. There is still 1.1 seconds left on the clock. Lilly inbounds pass goes to Talia who heaves it up from way beyond the 3-point line. Ball in the air the buzzer goes off game ends with a swish. Oregon State wins!