“I thought I was going to pass out”: How two Australians found themselves in college’s basketball’s biggest moment

Michigan's Chyra Evans and Elissa Brett had a front row seat when Caitlin Clark's broke the NCAA's scoring record. Now they want to see more Aussies on the game's biggest stages.

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One of the beautiful things about sports are those where were you when? moments. The rare moment so special, so captivating, so enchanting, it firmly bookmarks a time and place in your life. Where were you when Cathy Freeman won the 400m at the Sydney Olympics? Where were you when the Boomers finally won the medal they’d fought so hard to bring home?

How about when Iowa’s Caitlin Clark broke the NCAAW’s all-time scoring record?

Elissa Brett and Chyra Evans both remember it all too well.

The day started like any other, save for the fact they were a pair of young Australians visiting the biggest team in college sports, at the centre of the biggest story in college sports, as Caitlin Clark closed in on the all-time scoring record.

“This was my first time playing against her, and walking out of shootaround, she’s walking in with a police escort, and it’s sort of crazy and surreal.” Evans explains “Obviously we play against her, but she’s a celebrity, so it’s like wow, it’s really her. So walking past her, it’s almost like not real.”

Clark’s pursuit of the scoring record was inevitable. College basketball’s brightest star had been held scoreless in the fourth quarter of a stunning loss to Nebraska earlier that week (mostly thanks to a clutch triple from Australian Jaz Shelley), and was left eight points shy of passing Kelsey Plum’s mark of 3,527. Eight points shy of etching her name into history. Now back at home, in front of a frenzied, sell-out crowd, she already had five points from her first two possessions. The frenzy was reaching fever pitch. Less than two minutes later, Clark got the ball back and raced to mid-court. She launched a shot so early, from so deep, Evans didn’t even see it go up.

“I didn’t even know she’d gone up for it, I was just running, making sure they didn’t get any transition buckets, because otherwise I would’ve been dragged,” Evans recalls.

“She got the ball and dribbled up and pulled up from the logo, we were all running back, had our heads turned around, and she’s hit the three, and the crowd’s just gone crazy for probably a solid minute,” explained Brett. “It was so loud, like I thought I was going to pass out! Even the Big House [Michigan’s Football Stadium] doesn’t get that loud.”

“They called a timeout. It was so loud it was giving me a headache,” Evans added.

The thunderous sound of unbridled euphoria drowned out everything. Caitlin Clark might already be the most famous person in women’s basketball, but as the homegrown product of a state that otherwise has no professional sporting teams, her legend in Iowa is in another dimension. And it’s only growing.

The game’s greatest figures have a habit of making their greatest moments look easy. Michael Jordan’s championship clinching bucket over Utah’s Byron Russell is as textbook a move as you’ll ever see. More recently, LeBron’s legacy defining fadeaway only touched nylon as he broke the NBA’s all-time scoring record. It was fitting a player of Clark’s calibre etched her name into history with such ease, making an off balance, 35-foot shot seem automatic.

“It’s such an awesome achievement for her, and what she’s done for women’s basketball, so it’s definitely something to look back on and be proud we were a part of it, even though we were obviously on the other side of it,” Brett would further explain. Evans would further add that it would become a long-lasting memory.

“I think it’s definitely something you can look back on and be like, damn, I was really involved in history!”

Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, the Wolverines ended up losing that game. In fact, Clark finished with 49 points in a blowout. The now #6 ranked Iowa has been a force to be reckoned with all season, but beating them on Clark’s big night was going to be an impossible assignment for just about anyone. Still, regardless of how things played out, that night, and their entire experience at Michigan has convinced both Brett and Evans of one thing: We need more Aussies in the NCAA.