Caitlin Clark’s offensive output has not lost a step since last season, drilling 44 points in the No. 3 Hawkeyes’ 80-76 win over No. 8 Virginia Tech in the Ally Tipoff on Thursday.

Clark’s scoring volume — taking 31 of the Hawkeyes’ 68 shots in the game and thus scoring over half of the Hawkeyes’ points in the win — is evidently like no other.

That is except for Virginia Tech guard Georgia Amoore.

While Clark’s 3.7 three-pointers made per game last season led the NCAA, Amoore is just as hot of a shooter: She sat closely behind Clark in third in the NCAA with 3.3.

“Georgia [Amoore] is one of the best guards in the country,” Clark said. “I think that’s pretty obvious.” 

So the two duked it out shot-for-shot on Thursday night.

While the Hokies often face-guarded Clark throughout the contest, attempting to deny her the ball from the outset and finding her early in transition, the Des Moines native still found holes to contribute to the offense.

Two minutes into the first quarter, Clark was on the stat sheet with a three. By the quarter’s end, she had scored or assisted on 13 of Iowa’s 15 points.

But Amoore kept the Hokies three points ahead of the Hawkeyes, her half-court prayer splashing the nylon to give Virginia Tech the lead moving into the second quarter — as she was 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from deep for 11 points in the first alone.

Hawkeye guard Gabbie Marshall, arguably Iowa’s grittiest defender, matched up against Amoore in the backcourt but could only do so much.

Amoore drove left, stepped-back behind the three-point arc, found plenty of space, and drilled a deep ball — a move that Hawkeye fans might think is exclusive to Clark but is frequent too with the Victoria, Australia, local.

“We just kept switching it up on [Amoore] to make it as challenging as possible, but she made some really tough shots,” Clark said. “She’s a fun player to watch for sure.”

And while Clark started the second quarter rather quiet by her standards, she quickly turned on the jets, going on an 8-0 run all on her own that included a one-legged turnaround fadeaway reminiscent of Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki.

“A lot of [my shots] felt like they were going in … and you just continue to shoot them, and they’re going to go in,” Clark said, her performance boosting a Hawkeye offense that otherwise struggled, shooting a combined 41 percent from the field in the game. “That’s sometimes the hardest thing to do as a shooter is continue to shoot.”

So come halftime, Clark boasted 18 points, five rebounds, and three assists — yet right by her side once again was Amoore with 18 of her own on 6-of-13 from the field.

But the second half was all number 22.

Clark got off to a hot start, nailing a three from well behind the line before another sank from 28 feet out. That’s six feet past the arc.

And she was quickly in control of the game, making a smooth behind-the-back move to the rim for a finish through contact in addition to another confident drive and a step-back three of her own.

“In the fourth quarter, it got exciting,” Clark said. “We were trading threes, and it felt like that’s really what both teams are about is a really great offense, and [we both] shoot the ball really well.”

The Hokies just would not go away. 

Virginia Tech guard Cayla King hit two big threes down the stretch in the fourth, and Amoore got hot again with her feet quickly set for a corner three to put the Hokies within four with a minute remaining in the game.

Then came the Hokies’ Hack-a-Shaq attempt — in this case a Hack-a-Clark that did not work so well as Clark found the ball on offensive inbound plays and finished the fourth quarter 6-for-8 from the free throw line.

Amoore hit one last impressively off-balance three to keep Virginia Tech within three, but it was to no avail. 

Clark made one more from the charity stripe for her 44th point of the night, securing the ranked win for the Hawkeyes in just their second game of the season — and leaving Amoore’s otherwise stellar shooting performance for 31 points effectively silenced.