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SEATTLE — For 5,840 days, Jackie Stiles sat atop the NCAA scoring list. March 1 marks the 16-year anniversary of when she set the record.
A Herculean effort in Seattle on Saturday ensure there would be no “Sweet 16” for her keeping it.
Washington senior Kelsey Plum scored 57 points in the regular season finale against Utah to surpass Stiles as the new career scoring leader in Division I women’s basketball.
Plum needed 53 to tie the record of 3,393 coming into the game and broke it with a left-handed floater with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
Watch: Kelsey Plum becomes the NCAA all-time leading scorer.#PlumsPursuit pic.twitter.com/gb6HXY0zC4
— Washington WBB (@UW_WBB) February 26, 2017
The 57 sets a new career-high, which came on 19-of-28 shoots with six three-pointers.
“I’m so grateful for this moment,” Plum said afterward. “I can’t say enough about the support. Something like this, it takes a village. It takes so many people in my corner and I’m just really humbled by it.”
Stiles has openly rooted for Plum to break the record she set as a senior at then-Southwest Missouri State in 2001. On Feb. 12, Missouri State unveiled a statue of the assistant women’s coach outside of JQH Arena, the first for any student-athlete on campus.
Plum was 181 points away from the record at the time. She erased the deficit in five games.
Congrats@Kelseyplum10 on becoming the all-time leading scorer.We are celebrating you here at Missouri State. So proud of you/well deserved!
— Jackie Stiles (@JackieStiles10) February 26, 2017
“I defintely want her to focus not just on the end result but the day-to-day journey with her teammates,” Stiles said at the time. “When I look back on my career, it was the people who made it so special. I wish I would’ve stopped to enjoy the day-to-day process.”
Plum could pad the new mark considerably given that Washington, ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll, is capable of making a deep run into the PAC-12 and NCAA Tournaments.
“Kelsey Plum is tremendous. She is a great role model, player, and person. I’m definitely celebrating her and it’s an honor to have someone like her break it because she is amazing.”
