When Caitlin Clark scores 40-plus points in a game, the basketball world pays attention. Watching her go on high-volume scoring sprees and putting up shots from the Iowa Hawkeyes logo is undeniably exciting.

For spectators, anyway. Not for Clark.

The junior guard doesn’t like looking at a box score and seeing more than 40 points by her name. She knows it’s not a recipe for success. Because when Clark has to contribute such insane scoring numbers, it means the rest of her team is cold. And when No. 10 Iowa doesn’t have balance, the Hawkeyes don’t win.

“I think whenever I score 40 points, we lose,” Clark told reporters after a 94-81 loss to NC State. “So it’s not something I want to do.”

In the five games during her career where Clark has scored 40-plus points, the Hawkeyes are 2-3.

CAITLIN CLARK RANGEEEE pic.twitter.com/l7ZIn4DhQS

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) December 2, 2022

Against No. 12 NC State on Thursday night, Clark finished with 45 points on 16-28 shooting, with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. The next highest scorer for Iowa was McKenna Warnock with 15 points. The rest of the starters combined for 12 total points, and second-leading scorer Monika Czinano finished with 5. 

That, combined with a poor defensive-showing was too much for the Hawkeyes to overcome, despite Clark’s heroic performance.

The Wolfpack shot 55.4% from the field, including 53.8% from beyond the arc. And while Iowa struggled to find offense outside of Clark, NC State had a balanced scoring effort.

Saniya Rivers and Diamond Johnson led with 22 points apiece, with Rivers having a breakout game. The sophomore, who transferred in from South Carolina after being the No. 3 recruit her freshman season, recorded her career high. Heading into Thursday’s contest, her previous high stood at 9, and she was averaging 8.9 points per game.

The Wolfpack also had double-digit scoring efforts from Jakia Brown-Turner (17), Jada Boyd (12) and Camille Hobby (10).

Can’t win alone 🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺

What a night for our PACK. pic.twitter.com/l0OjvwExbG

— #10 NC State WBB 🐺🏀 (@PackWomensBball) December 2, 2022

NC State’s 94 points is their second-most on the season. The Wolfpack had 96 in a win over Charlotte on Nov. 16.

This was NC State’s first top-25 win of the season, and Iowa’s third loss of the year, with two coming to top-25 teams and one coming at the hands of unranked Kansas State. For the Hawkeyes, it was yet another game with the same problems: lack of defense from the whole team, and lack off offense from everyone other than Clark. 

The team generally can count on Czinano, as she averaged 17.2 points heading into Thursday’s contest. The fifth-year senior’s 5 points are the least she’s scored since a January 2022 contest in which she had 4 against Michigan State. The Hawkeyes struggled to get the ball inside, and Czinano finished with just 4 shot attempts. 

ICE IN HER VEINS. @Ihoop___22 answers Iowa's first three of the half with one of her own.

🐺 63
🟡 51
:35, 3Q pic.twitter.com/Ozx7I338eS

— #10 NC State WBB 🐺🏀 (@PackWomensBball) December 2, 2022

“I don’t know why we couldn’t get her the ball tonight, honestly,”coach Lisa Bluder told reporters. “They were on her back. I mean, why can’t we pass a ball to a post when the post defense is on her back? It’s maddening.”

The loss to NC State marks Iowa’s second defeat in a row. The Hawkeyes fell to UConn 86-79 on Nov. 27, but the result felt much different. In that contest, Iowa put together a better team showing. Clark led with 25 points, Kate Martin had 20, Warnock had 14, Gabbie Marshall added 10, and Czinano had 8. 

Defensively, they also put together a better showing.

“I thought our defense was pretty good against UConn,” Clark told reporters on Thursday. “But then we come here on our home floor, and it wasn’t good at all. And that’s the reason we lost. It wasn’t anything other than that.”

Unrivaled Basketball and trading card manufacturer Panini America are teaming up, bringing the 3×3 league's first officially licensed trading cards to market on Friday.

As part of a multi-year agreement between the two parties, Panini will debut the Instant Cards just hours before the first full weekend of play in the 2026 Unrivaled season tips off on Friday.

Panini also plans to launch a Rewind set of trading cards celebrating the 2025 inaugural Unrivaled season, among other future drops.

"Our partnership with Unrivaled is a great way to reinforce and showcase our support of the women's game and female athletes," said Panini America SVP of marketing Jason Howarth in the pair's Thursday announcement. "Unrivaled's 3-on-3 format makes for exciting and compelling game play and continuing to work with the best players in the world in this format made this partnership make perfect sense."

Following Monday's Season 2 tip-off, Unrivaled is continuing to form strategic partnerships as the offseason pro league grows in popularity.

"We want to meet fans where they are, and Panini's history in this space makes them an ideal partner to highlight the biggest moments for women's basketball's biggest stars," said Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell.

How to purchase Unrivaled Instant Cards

The full Unrivaled Instant Card set will release online at 3:08 PM ET on Friday at PaniniAmerica.net.

US women are lighting up the ice, performing record-breaking short programs at the US Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday as the nation's top skaters compete to represent Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.

Currently atop the field is 26-year-old Amber Glenn, with the reigning back-to-back national champion posting the highest short program score in event history on Wednesday.

Glenn's 83.05-point performance surpassed the 81.11-point previous record set just minutes before by her 20-year-old teammate, reigning world champion Alysa Liu.

"I think that was one of my most enjoyable experiences competing ever," Glenn said afterwards.

With Liu and Glenn leading the charge, the US is aiming to end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women's singles figure skating in Milan, Italy, this winter — and Team USA has even more depth on their side.

A full six of the world's Top-17 skaters hail from the US, with 18-year-old Isabeau Levito — who claimed third in Wednesday's short program competition — joining Glenn and Liu in the Top 5.

Team USA can send only three singles skaters to next month's Winter Games, with the national selection committee assessing each athlete's full season — not just their performances at this week's championships — before announcing the Olympic-bound trio on Sunday.

How to watch the 2026 US Figure Skating Championships

The women's singles competition will conclude with Friday's free skate, which kicks off at 3 PM ET before the top skaters in the standings take the ice at 8 PM ET on NBC and Peacock.

The 2026 US Olympic Figure Skating Team will then be announced at 2 PM ET on Sunday, live on NBC.

This month's USWNT roster featured one notable gap, as the absence of Portland Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey stirred up rumors that the 27-year-old is finalizing a move to the WSL to join the top-tier UK league's frontrunners, Manchester City.

First reported by The Guardian, ESPN added on Thursday that Manchester City will ante up a base transfer fee around $800,000 to add Coffey to the Citizens' roster — though the number could rise as negotiations continue and parties finalize a deal.

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The national team stalwart will reportedly travel to Manchester in the near future to ink a potential contract, but Coffey currently remains under contract with Portland until 2027, having signed an extension with the Thorns in 2024.

Coffey has been a mainstay for her NWSL club since Portland drafted the Penn State alum in 2021, but the UK league's pull could persuade her to join her USWNT teammates Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United), and Naomi Girma (Chelsea) in making the leap to the WSL.

Currently sitting six points clear of six-time reigning champion Chelsea atop the 2025/26 WSL table, Manchester City has reportedly been searching for "the right defensive midfield option" as they pursue their first league title since 2016.

This weekend's SEC slate brings the heat, as the stacked NCAA basketball conference gears up for more than one high-profile ranked matchup on Sunday.

Undefeated No. 2 Texas will visit Baton Rouge to take on No. 12 LSU, with the Tigers looking to add to their 80-59 Thursday win over unranked Georgia as they continue battling back from a dismal 0-2 start in 2025/26 conference play.

"We think we're just going to go in there and out-jump, out-leap somebody," said LSU boss Kim Mulkey following last Sunday's loss to No. 7 Vanderbilt. "You're not going to do that in this league."

"This year, the [SEC] is every bit as good as last year — when you really think about it, it's probably way better," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer told the Austin American-Statesman on Thursday. "The big thing right now is we've got to get better."

Texas's clash with LSU opens a tough stretch for the Longhorns, as they face AP Poll headliners No. 3 South Carolina, No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 6 Kentucky, and No. 7 Vanderbilt in the coming weeks.

Sunday's other SEC blockbuster between the Sooners and the Wildcats is all about redemption, as Oklahoma aims to bounce back from their 74-69 upset loss to No. 18 Ole Miss on Thursday while Kentucky looks to put their 64-51 Thursday loss to unranked Alabama in the rearview mirror.

How to watch ranked SEC basketball on Sunday

No. 2 Texas will tip off Sunday's ranked SEC slate against No. 12 LSU at 3 PM ET, airing live on ESPN.

Then at 4 PM ET, No. 5 Oklahoma will visit No. 6 Kentucky, with live coverage on the SEC Network.