Sabrina Ionescu on the momentum Caitlin Clark is building around women’s basketball
Sabrina Ionescu explains why Caitlin Clark’s accomplishment’s in the women’s college basketball world will benefit the WNBA as well.
Caitlin Clark is the NCAA women’s scoring record holder, but there is another milestone she is chasing down besides Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record: Lynette Woodard’s record.
One of the greatest scorers in college basketball history, Woodard scored 3,649 points during her four seasons at Kansas from 1978-81. While it is more than Clark’s current number of 3,617 career points, it isn’t recognized as the all-time women’s basketball record because Woodard played when the the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was the governing body of the sport, not the NCAA.
While it’s likely that Clark will break the record very soon – she’s only 32 points away with two regular-season games remaining, plus the Big Ten conference tournament and NCAA Tournament – Woodard wants her and the players she played with to get the same respect and recognition from the NCAA.
“I want NCAA governing body to know that they should respect the (AIAW) players. They should respect the history. Include us and our accomplishments,” Woodard said during ESPN’s broadcast of the Kansas vs. Kansas State game on Monday. “This is the era of diversity, equity and inclusion. They should include us. We deserve it.”
There has been controversy as to why the NCAA doesn’t recognize records like Woodard’s when it recognizes others from that same era. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has the most wins of any college basketball coach in history at 1,210, but included in that record are her wins from when she coached Idaho, which came before the NCAA was the governing body of the sport.
Despite wanting the NCAA to recognize the AIAW, Woodard isn’t mad about Clark breaking her record. When asked what she’d want to say to Clark after potentially breaking her record, she was thrilled to welcome her among the record books.
“Congratulations, welcome to the party,” Woodard said.
