Caitlin Clark wins women’s Wooden Award as nation’s best college player

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Iowa’s Caitlin Clark won the John R. Wooden Award for the second straight year as the nation’s top women’s college basketball player on Tuesday.

The other finalists were Cameron Brink of Stanford, Paige Bueckers of UConn and freshmen Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame and JuJu Watkins of Southern California. All five women have been invited to Los Angeles for the award presentation on Friday.

Clark led the Hawkeyes to their second straight appearance in the NCAA title game, where they lost to undefeated South Carolina. She led the nation in scoring at 31.6 points per game and in assists with an average of 8.9 per game, becoming the first player to finish No. 1 in both categories in consecutive years.

Clark became the career Division I scoring leader for men or women in her final season at Iowa.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness