Now that Catlin Clark has broken the all-time NCAA scoring record held for over 50 years, it’s a good time to look at the company she’s keeping among the best scorers in men’s and women’s college basketball history.
Some of the names on this list may surprise you while others you may not be familiar with. The renewed interest in women’s college basketball is a great opportunity to learn about those who set the standard.
Here’s the rundown of the college basketball’s 10 best scorers of all time.
10. Chris Clemons, Campbell: 3,225 points
Chris Clemons is a name many college basketball fans aren’t familiar with but he was one of the top scorers in the country out of the Big South Conference. He was Big South Freshman of the Year in 2016 and Big South Player of the Year in 2019, leading the NCAA in scoring in 2019 with 30 points per game.
9. Freeman Williams, Portland State: 3,249 points
Freeman Williams was an All-American who led the NCAA in scoring in 1977 and 1978. Williams scored 60 or more points in a game on three occasions, with the most being 81 points in a game against Rocky Mountain College. That’s the third-most in a single game in NCAA history.
8. Brittney Griner, Baylor: 3,283 points
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that several women’s players made this list, starting with Baylor’s Brittney Griner. The three-time All-American, three-time Big 12 Player of the Year, and AP Player of the Year once scored 50 points as a freshman with the Bears. She accumulated plenty more, without ever leading the nation in scoring during her time at Baylor.
7. Dyaisha Fair, Syracuse: 3,351 points*
The leading scorer in Syracuse Orange history, men’s or women’s, is Dyaisha Fair. Think about all the greats who have come through their men’s basketball team and that makes it even more impressive. Fair started her career at Buffalo before transferring to Syracuse. This past February, she passed Griner in points scored, placing her fifth all-time in the women’s game.
6. Jackie Stiles, Missouri State: 3,393 points
At one point Jackie Stiles was the leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history. One of her biggest accomplishments was scoring 56 points against Evansville, which stands as the sixth-highest number of points in a Division I game. She became the first Division I women’s player to score more than 1,000 points in a season, putting up 1,062 in her senior year. That year, she won the Wade Trophy, which honors the best women’s basketball player in the college ranks, as well as the Broderick Cup, which honors the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
5. Kelsey Mitchell, Ohio State: 3,402 points
Kelsey Mitchell is the three-time Big Ten Player of the Year and the three-time All-American. In her senior season, Mitchell averaged 24.4 points on 46.1 percent shooting overall and 40.3 percent shooting from three. She also managed 4.1 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. She finished her final season with the third-most points in Division I history, trailing only Kesley Plum.
4. Kelsey Plum, Washington, 3,527 points
For a while, Kelsey Plum was the leading scorer in women’s college basketball. She was an All-American, National Player of the Year and one of the best to ever play the game. Plum was the first Pac-12 Player to reach 3,000 points in her career and just fell short of breaking Pete Maravich’s all-time scoring record. Each year Plum was in college, her scoring increased and when she graduated, she averaged over 31 points per game.
3. Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy: 3,664 points
Antonie Davis was a third-team All-American and two-time Horizon League Player of the Year. Davis became the 11th Division I men’s player with 3,000 career points and eventually passed Wofford’s Fletcher Magee for the most career three-pointers in D-I men’s history. Davis moved into second place on the all-time D-I men’s scoring list as well.
2. Pete Maravich, LSU: 3,667 points
Considered by some as the greatest college basketball player of all time, Pete Maravich held the NCAA scoring record for over 50 years. What makes Maravich’s records so remarkable is the time in which he broke them, doing it before the 3-point line was even invented. In just three years at LSU (freshmen weren’t allowed to play during his time) he averaged 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game, leading the NCAA in scoring all three years.
1. Catlin Clark, Iowa: 3,771 points*
Catlin Clark made history by finally breaking Pete Maravich’s all-time scoring mark. Clark is a three-time All-American, two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year, leading the NCAA in scoring in 2021 and 2022. March 3rd, Clark broke the NCAA scoring record scoring 35 points in an upset victory of No. 2 Ohio State. She averages almost about 28 points per game and her 2024 season is not even finished yet so, she will get a chance to add to that total.
*as of the time of this writing