ST. LOUIS (AP) — Grace Beyer set the women’s NAIA career-scoring record on Saturday, rising to 3,874 points with a 32-point effort in an 80-56 victory for University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy (St. Louis) over Hannibal-LaGrange (Missouri).
Needing 14 points to pass the NAIA record of 3,855 points set by Miriam Walker-Samuels of Claflin (South Carolina) from 1987-1990, Beyer reached 16 points when she hit a 3-pointer 4 1/2 minutes into the second quarter.
At her season average of 34.5 points, Beyer would need six postseason games to reach the women’s all-college scoring record of Pearl Moore, who scored 4,061 points for AIAW-member Francis Marion (S.C) from 1975-79. Moore is the only women’s player to reach 4,000 points. UHSP entered Saturday’s regular-season finale tied for fourth place in the American Midwest Conference.
The overall all-college record (men and women) is held by John Pierce with 4,230 points of Lipscomb from 1990-94 when the Bisons were an NAIA program.
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Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has made headlines recently for setting the women’s NCAA Division I scoring record. She has 3,593 points through Friday and is chasing Peter Maravich’s NCAA Division I record of 3,667 points.
Maravich is No. 11 on the overall list for men and women. The top 10 include six NAIA players, three from NCAA Division II and one from the AIAW. Beyer has risen to fifth on that list. Four of the top 10 are women.
Beyer’s 32 points on Saturday included 9-of-23 shooting with six 3-pointers, and the 90% free-throw shooter went 8 for 8 from the line. She added four rebounds and six assists. Samantha Matthews scored 23 points, which included seven 3-pointers in the first half and Elizabeth Allanach scored 22 with six 3s. The Eutes made 20 of 48 3-pointers. Lesley Ivy led Hannibal-LaGrange with 26 points.
Beyer has seven 40-point games this season with a high of 51.
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