#FromOurArchives: Before Caitlin Clark, Lynette Woodard and Pearl Moore set the scoring standard

A look back at two women who set college scoring records in the AIAW.

Hi, friends! I’m coming to you live from Miami, where I am about to head over to watch Unrivaled in person! I’m so excited — please let me know if you’re here, too.

With basketball on the brain, I wanted to continue our Black History Month series where I take the paywall away and republish old Power Plays newsletters that focus on Black trailblazers in women’s sport, so we can all do a better job learning about women’s sports history.

Earlier this week we revisited Wyomia Tyus’s story. Today’s newsletter is repurposed from one I initially sent out last year when Caitlin Clark broke Kelsey Plum’s NCAA scoring record.

It’s about Lynette Woodard (3,649) and Pearl Moore (4,061), who both played in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) era of women’s sports.

The rise and fall of the AIAW, and what it meant to women's basketball

Remember, while I have lifted the paywall on this one, the full Power Plays archive is only available to paid subscribers, and most of my archival deep dives are only available to paid subscribers from the jump. Paid subscriptions make Power Plays possible, so please support if you can!

LYNETTE WOODARD

Lynette Woodard is a legend from the University of Kansas who scored 3,649 points over 139 games from 1977-1981. (Rachel Bachman of the Wall Street Journal wrote a must-read piece on Woodard.) At the time I published this newsletter last year, Woodard still had more points overall than Caitlin Clark, though Clark passed her by the end of the season.

Woodard had a storied career after college, too, helping lead Team USA to the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics and becoming the first woman to every play with the Harlem Globetrotters in 1985. She played pro basketball overseas, and then played two years in the WNBA — in 1997, the league’s inaugural season, she played for the Cleveland Rockers; in ‘98 she was with the Detroit Shock. She was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Her record isn’t recognized as “official” by the NCAA because the NCAA didn’t take over women’s sports fully until 1982. Therefore, the NCAA just ignores anything that happened before that. It’s complete bullshit.

27 News in Kansas released a statement from Woodward’s publicist about Clark’s accomplishment, and it’s a must-read:

Statement from Lynette Woodard:

I want to congratulate Caitlin Clark on her sensational career and becoming the new Division I NCAA scoring leader.

In 1982, when the NCAA began offering women’s championships, I was the first female athlete to earn the NCAA’s top V award. At that time, the NCAA recognized my career scoring record of 3,649 points, all achieved in my four seasons at the University of Kansas.

I am proud of my record that has stood for 43 years. I played from 1977 until 1981, when women’s basketball was governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Back then, collegiate women’s players used a larger basketball, and we did not have a 3-point line. In honoring Caitlin’s accomplishments, I hope that we can also shine a light on the pioneers who paved the way before her. Women’s basketball has a glorious history that predates the NCAA’s involvement. I applaud Caitlin for everything she has done and look forward to watching her score many more points for years to come.

—Lynette Woodard, February 15, 2024

Here are a few articles I came across that will help you get to know her story a bit better.

The Shreveport Journal; March 14, 1980

This is a great article about the versatility of Woodard, who could play all five positions.

Olathe News (Olathe, Kansas); January 11, 1981

Here’s an article after Woodard broke the scoring record about the difficulty getting it recognized.

That might be a bit hard to read due to the small font, so here’s an excerpt that I found particularly interesting as it pertains to women’s sports history and stat-keeping:

The first basket she made, a 15-foot jumper, made her the record-holder for career points in Division I women's basketball. That's according to NCAA Division I standards. But the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women is the governing body for women's athletics, not the NCAA.

The AIAW doesn’t deem individual records important and according to KU's sports information department has refused to accredit Woodard's 3228 career points as a record. AIAW records are kept only for national championships. 

The record itself was a confusing one to begin with. At the beginning of the basketball season, Carol Blazejowski was the record holder. The former Montclair State (NJ) star had 3,199 career points. At the end of her junior year Woodard had 2,888 points, already a KU record. Woodard has outscored all KU players male and female.

But while the Jayhawks were playing in the Hanover Classic Tournament in Madison Square Garden last month, Mel Greenberg, who writes for the Philadelphia Enquirer and publishes a weekly Top 20 poll, announced that Cindy Brogdon, a Tennessee graduate, had scored five more points than Blazejowski.

And that record, according to a women's sports record book written by Van Nightengale of the Virginia Pilot newspaper, was correct. 

All of that is past history now, however. Woodard has outscored both Blazejowski and Brogdon and, as far as KU is concerned, holds the record.

The Wichita Eagle; September 23 1981

Here’s a great article about Woodard’s life after setting the record and the tragedy of the lack of options for women athletes professionally back in 1981. A reminder both how far we have come and how far we still have to go.

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PEARL MOORE

Believe it or not, there’s someone who has scored even more points that Woodard and Clark in college — and no, I’m not talking about Pistol Pete.

Pearl Moore was a 5’5” guard who scored a whopping 4,061 points in 135 games from 1975-1979, a point total that is still the overall record in college basketball. Pete Iacobelli wrote about Moore in the Associated Press, and her story is a phenomenal one.

She grew up in Florence, South Carolina as one of 11 children. Her collegiate career started at Anderson Junior College where she played eight games and scored 177 points before transferring to Francis Marion College in her hometown. (FUN ASIDE: Francis Marion was in the news while Clark was making waves because Francis Marion center Lauryn Taylor set the all-time women’s NCAA single-game rebounding record with a 34 point, 44 rebound performance in a Division II win against North Greenville! )

Despite playing at such a small school — when Moore played, the AIAW classified Francis Marion as a “small school”— Moore was a transcendent talent who set records on the regular, even scoring 60 points in a game in the AIAW tournament in 1978.

She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

As far as I can tell, the reason why some recognize Woodard’s record but not Moore’s is because Francis Marion is a DII school. (Those that do recognize Woodard’s record sometimes specify that it’s the record for “major colleges.”) But still, she scored 4,061 points!!!! That deserves a lot of love. As one South Carolina sports reporter wrote in 1979, “Moore has brought girl’s basketball from the days of one paragraph to headlines.”

Florence Morning News; March 23, 1978

Here’s an article written after Moore set a single-game record with 60 points. It really shows how focused and hard-working she was.

Florence Morning News; March 11, 1979

Here’s an article from after Moore set the national record in her final collegiate game, just surpassing the men’s DII record set by Travis Grant of Kentucky State in 1972.

Florence Morning News; March 27, 1979

This article is really mostly about the pictures and her accolades, but it is great to see her being celebrated in-real-time for her achievements in 1979.

Hope you all enjoyed this trip down memory lane. Thank you for your support!