Who is Lynette Woodard? Former Kansas star back in spotlight as Caitlin Clark nears record

On Thursday, the college basketball world will be fixated on Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa as Caitlin Clark is primed to break the women's NCAA scoring record, currently held by Kelsey Plum of Washington.

Clark has 3,520 career points entering Thursday's game against Michigan, just eight points from breaking Plum's record.

While Clark climbed the scoring charts, passing such stars as Brittney Griner, Jackie Stiles, and Kelsey Mitchell, there is one name that is missing from those NCAA scoring lists.

Her name is Lynette Woodard and she is one of the greatest women's basketball players ever. In her four seasons at Kansas four decades ago, she rewrote the record books, leading to a Hall of Fame career.

Who is Lynette Woodard?

Woodard is a Wichita, Kansas native and after her high school playing days, arrived at the University of Kansas in 1977.

She finished her career scoring 3,649 points, the most ever by a women's college basketball player, and just 18 points behind the men’s career scoring leader, LSU's Pete Maravich. She won the Wade Trophy in 1981, given to the nation’s best women's college basketball player and a four-time Kodak All-American.

Woodard was the captain and second-leading scorer for the United States as Team USA took the gold medal in basketball at the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. A year later, she became the first woman ever to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

She played for the WNBA's Cleveland Rockers and Detroit Shock before retiring from basketball in 1999. Woodard was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Lynette Woodard's scoring record not recognized

When Woodard started playing college basketball, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was the governing body for sports. The NCAA did not start sponsoring women's sports until 1982, holding the first NCAA women's tournament that season.

Because Woodard's 3,639 career points at Kansas predates the NCAA's sponsor of women's sports, her stats and records are not found or recognized in the NCAA's official record books.

The real record?

There is another women's basketball player that actually has more career points than Woodard.

Pearl Moore played at Francis Marion University, a now NCAA Division II school located in Florence, South Carolina, from 1975-79, and scored 4,061 points in 127 games.

At Francis Marion, Moore played for Naismith Hall of Famer Sylvia Hatchell, who went on to win an NCAA title with North Carolina in 1993. Moore was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.