Sad News: for the head coach of Caitlin Clark….

Caitlin Clark holds the NCAA women’s scoring record, but in addition to Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record, she’s chasing another milestone: Lynette Woodard’s. One of the greatest scorers in college basketball history, Woodard scored 3,649 points in four seasons at Kansas from 1978-1981.

While that is more than Clark’s current 3,617 career points, it is not recognized as the all-time women’s basketball record because Woodard played when the Association for Women’s Athletics (AIAW) was the governing body for the sport, not the NCAA.

While it’s likely Clark will break the record soon — he’s just 32 points away with two regular season games and the Big Ten Conference Tournament and NCAA Tournament — Woodard wants him and the players he played with to get the same respect. NCAA recognition.

 

“I want the NCAA board to know that they should respect the (AIAW) players. They should respect history. Include us and our accomplishments,” Woodard said Monday in ESPN’s Kansas vs. Kansas State game. “This is an era of diversity, equality and inclusion. They should include us. We deserve it.”

There has been controversy over why the NCAA doesn’t recognize records like Woodard’s when it recognizes other records from the same era. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has the most wins by a college basketball coach in history, with 1,210, but that record includes her win over Idaho as a coach. , which was before the NCAA was the governing body of the sport. Although Woodard wanted the NCAA to recognize the AIAW, Woodard is not upset that Clark broke his record. I want to tell Clark.

about it when he broke his record.a possible record that he happily welcomed him into the record books: “Congratulations, welcome to the party,” Woodard said.

This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: Lynette Woodard wants NCAA to ‘respect AIAW history’ as Caitlin Clark approaches record Copyright Gannett Co., Inc. 2024. All rights reserved. Gannett Syndication Service This story was originally published on February 27, 2024 at 1:35 pm..