In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throws or field goals.[1] In National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I basketball, where a player's career is at most four seasons under normal circumstances, it is considered a notable achievement to reach the 1,000-points scored threshold. In even rarer instances, players have reached the 2,000- and 3,000-point plateaus (no player, whether male or female, has ever scored 4,000 or more points at the Division I level). The top 25 highest scorers in NCAA Division I women's basketball history are listed below. While the NCAA's current three-division format has been in place since the 1973–74 season,[2] it did not sponsor women's sports until the 1981–82 school year; before that time, women's college sports were governed by the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
To be listed in the NCAA record book, a player must have been active in at least three seasons during the era in which the NCAA governed women's sports—although for those players who qualify for inclusion in the record book, AIAW statistics are included. Most notably, Lynette Woodard of Kansas, whose career total of 3,649 points made her the career scoring leader in women's major-college basketball before Iowa's Caitlin Clark passed her on February 28, 2024,[3] was not recognized as the NCAA career leader because her entire college career (1977–81) predated NCAA sponsorship of women's sports.[4]
Some players among the top 25 scorers in Division I history played in the era before the three-point line was officially adopted in women's basketball on an experimental basis in 1986–87 and fully in 1987–88. All of the players with a dash through the three-point field goals column were affected by this rule. Valorie Whiteside of Appalachian State is the only three-point shot era player on this list who did not make a single three-point shot, and she only played in one season in which the use of the three-pointer was mandatory.
The three-point distance was first marked at from the center of the basket, the same distance then used in NCAA men's basketball.[5] From that point through the 2007–08 season, the three-point lines remained at .[5] On May 3, 2007, the NCAA men's basketball rules committee passed a measure to extend the distance of the men's three-point line back to ;[6] the women's line remained at the original distance until it was moved to match the men's distance effective in 2011–12.[5] The men's distance was changed to match the FIBA standard of in a two-phase implementation that took effect in 2019–20 in Division I and 2020–21 in Divisions II and III,[7] but the women's distance was not changed until 2021–22, when it was moved to match the men's distance.[8]
The only player on this list to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is Cheryl Miller.[9]
Three players among the top 25 played basketball in more than four seasons. Rachel Banham of Minnesota tore her ACL 10 games into her senior season of 2014–15. She qualified for a medical hardship waiver, popularly known as a "medical redshirt", that allowed her to compete in a fifth season.[10] Dyaisha Fair of Buffalo and Syracuse and Ashley Joens of Iowa State both benefited from a blanket NCAA waiver that did not count the 2020–21 season, which was impacted by COVID-19, against the athletic eligibility of any basketball player. Two players among the top 25 played at more than one school: Alysha Clark, who played two seasons at Belmont before transferring to Middle Tennessee, and Fair, who played the first three seasons of her career at Buffalo before transferring to Syracuse for her final two seasons of eligibility.
| Pos. | G | F | C | Ref. | |
| References |
| ^ | Player still active in NCAA Division I | |
| † | Elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame | |
| Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame | ||
| Bold | Denotes current NCAA D1 Women's Basketball Record |
| Player | Pos. | Team | Career start | Career end | Games played | Field goals made | 3-point field goals made | Free throws made | Points | PPG | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | Iowa | 2020 | 2024 | 139 | 1,293 | 548 | 817 | 3,951 | [11] | |||
| G | Washington | 2013 | 2017 | 139 | 1,136 | 343 | 912 | 3,527 | 25.4 | [12] | ||
| G | Buffalo / Syracuse | 2019 | 2024 | 153 | 1,159 | 430 | 655 | 3,403 | [13] | |||
| G | Ohio State | 2014 | 2018 | 139 | 1,120 | 497 | 665 | 3,402 | 24.5 | [14] | ||
| † | G | Missouri State | 1997 | 2001 | 129 | 1,160 | 221 | 852 | 3,393 | 26.1 | [15] | |
| C | Baylor | 2009 | 2013 | 148 | 1,247 | 2 | 787 | 3,283 | 22.2 | [16] | ||
| F | Mississippi Valley State | 1985 | 1989 | 110 | 1,196 | 24 | 708 | 3,122 | [17] | |||
| F | Drake | 1980 | 1984 | 120 | 1,104 | align=center | — | 907 | 3,115 | 26.0 | ||
| G | FIU | 2010 | 2014 | 131 | 1,099 | 160 | 749 | 3,107 | 23.7 | [18] | ||
| G | Minnesota | 2011 | 2016 | 144 | 1,081 | 354 | 577 | 3,093 | 21.5 | [19] | ||
| G/F | Iowa State | 2018 | 2023 | 158 | 988 | 344 | 740 | 3,060 | 19.3 | [20] | ||
| F | Delaware | 2009 | 2013 | 114 | 1,030 | 206 | 773 | 3,039 | 26.7 | [21] | ||
| F | UConn | 2007 | 2011 | 154 | 1,171 | 311 | 383 | 3,036 | 19.7 | [22] | ||
| † | F | Tennessee | 1995 | 1999 | 146 | 1,233 | 36 | 523 | 3,025 | 20.4 | [23] | |
| F | USC | 1982 | 1986 | 126 | 1,159 | align=center | — | 700 | 3,018 | 23.6 | ||
| G | Maine | 1994 | 1998 | 118 | 1,055 | 219 | 676 | 3,005 | 25.5 | [24] | ||
| F | Mississippi State | 1999 | 2003 | 125 | 1,119 | 34 | 709 | 2,981 | 23.8 | [25] | ||
| F | Appalachian State | 1984 | 1988 | 116 | 1,153 | 0 | 638 | 2,944 | 25.4 | |||
| G | Penn State | 2000 | 2004 | 133 | 1,051 | 357 | 460 | 2,919 | 21.9 | [26] | ||
| C | LSU | 1980 | 1984 | 117 | 1,259 | align=center | — | 388 | 2,906 | 24.8 | ||
| F | Villanova | 2019 | 2023 | 119 | 1,094 | 210 | 498 | 2,896 | 24.3 | [27] | ||
| G | Saint Francis (PA) | 2015 | 2019 | 130 | 965 | 472 | 473 | 2,874 | 22.1 | [28] | ||
| G | Oral Roberts | 2009 | 2013 | 126 | 1,052 | 195 | 568 | 2,867 | 22.8 | [29] | ||
| F | Belmont / Middle Tennessee | 2005 | 2010 | 123 | 1,028 | 42 | 767 | 2,865 | 23.3 | [30] | ||
| G | UT Martin | 2010 | 2014 | 129 | 958 | 392 | 557 | 2,865 | 22.2 | [31] |