The women’s college basketball tournament is entrenched with plenty of history.
Stars and Hall of Famers turned UConn into one of the greatest powerhouses in recent sports history. Stars at other schools have helped propel their respective programs to title runs, putting in memorable performances over the years.
Caitlin Clark was the most recent example of the latter. She memorably led Iowa to consecutive appearances in the national championship game, putting up video game numbers in several outings.
As this March marks the first tournament without Clark since 2019, did she do enough in her college career to become the all-time tournament-leading scorer? Let’s take a look.
10 all-time leading scorers in NCAA Women’s Tournament history
T-10. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, UConn (374 points)
Mosqueda-Lewis was a key contributor to UConn’s three-peat as NCAA champions in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She led the NCAA in 3-point percentage in her sophomore and senior seasons. Her sharp shooting opened the floor for her Huskies’ teammates, such as Breanna Stewart and Stefanie Dolson, to feast inside.
Across four seasons, three as a starter, Mosqueda-Lewis averaged 15.3 points and 5.3 rebounds, while shooting 44.7% from deep. She was drafted third overall in 2015 by the Seattle Storm and played there for five seasons, winning a championship in 2018 before playing her final season with the Connecticut Sun in 2020.
T-10. Seimone Augustus, LSU (374 points)
Augustus was a two-time Wooden Player of the Year at LSU (2005-06). She led the nation with 22.7 points per game in her senior season as the Tigers made a Final Four run. Augustus, who went on to be the first overall pick in 2006 by the Minnesota Lynx, played 14 seasons and won four WNBA championships before finishing her career with a one-year stint with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2020.
9. Bridgette Gordon, Tennessee (388 points)
Gordon won two national championships, in her sophomore and senior seasons, with the Volunteers. She finished her career with a premier performance, dropping 27 points in the 1989 title game. She averaged 18.0 PPG and 6.7 rebounds per game over her four seasons at Tennessee.
Griner’s collegiate stats are off the charts in some categories. For example, she averaged 5.1 blocks per game across her four seasons at Baylor, leading the NCAA in her freshman and junior seasons. She won the national title as a junior, and she had a 26-point, 13-rebound performance in the championship game.
Griner was drafted first overall by the Phoenix Mercury and played there for 11 seasons before signing with the Atlanta Dream in this past free-agency period.
Ogunbowale won a national title with the Irish in 2018 and led the team in scoring (20.8 PPG) that season. She scored 18 points in the final vs. Mississippi State and dropped 27 in a two-point overtime victory over UConn in the Final Four. Ogunbowale, who was selected fifth overall in 2019, remains one of the WNBA’s best scorers for the Dallas Wings.
6. Diana Taurasi, UConn (428 points)
Taurasi won consecutive national championships in 2003 and 2004 with UConn and won Naismith Player of the Year honors in both of those seasons. She has one of the greatest careers — collegiate, professionally, in the Olympics, etc. — of any women’s basketball player. She announced her retirement after her 20th season in the WNBA, all of which came with the Mercury. While she fell short of a WNBA championship, she won Most Valuable Player honors in 2009, was an 11-time All-star and won six Olympic gold medals, including her latest one at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Reaching the Final Four in all four of her seasons at Stanford, Ogwumike had some big tournament performances over the years. She put up 38 points to help her team reach the title game in 2010. She scored 31 points in a one-point loss in the Final Four of the 2011 tournament and scored a career-tournament-high 39 points in the Elite Eight in 2012, helping Stanford get back to the Final Four again.
4. Breanna Stewart, UConn (446 points)
Stewart’s performances in the NCAA Tournament over her college career are a big reason why she’s considered one of the best women’s college basketball players of all time. She helped UConn win a title in all four of her seasons with the program, leading the team in postseason scoring each year. She didn’t have any major scoring outbursts in her 24 NCAA Tournament games, only scoring more than 30 points once, but Stewart was consistent and delivered, scoring 20-plus points in several of her tournament games.
3. Maya Moore, UConn (476 points)
Moore made the Final Four in all four of her seasons in Storrs, and she was a key contributor right away for coach Geno Auriemma. Moore averaged 20.7 PPG in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, which ended with her and the Huskies celebrating a championship title. A year later, Moore scored 34 points in UConn’s Final Four win and averaged 24.0 PPG to help the Huskies go back-to-back.
UConn didn’t complete the three-peat with Moore, but she put up 36 points in the Huskies’ Final Four loss in 2011.
2. Chamique Holdsclaw, Tennessee (479 points)
Holsclaw was one of the key players in Tennessee’s run to three straight titles in the mid-to-late 1990s. As she won Player of the Year in the 1997-98 season, Holdsclaw averaged 26.3 PPG in the NCAA Tournament that season. She put up 29 points in Tennessee’s six-point Elite Eight win vs. North Carolina that year before putting up 25 points a couple of games later to help the Vols win the title.
Holdsclaw averaged 30.3 points in the first three games of the tournament in her senior season, but she only put up eight points in the Elite Eight, causing Tennessee to lose to Duke.
1. Caitlin Clark, Iowa (492 points)
When a 30-point-per-game scorer makes it to the championship game in two consecutive seasons, it’d be tough for anyone other than that player to hold the tournament scoring record. That’s the case for Clark, who scored 31.8 PPG for Iowa in the 2023 NCAA Tournament before averaging 30.0 PPG in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Her best scoring performances seemed to come in the biggest games, putting up a 41-point triple-double to help Iowa beat Louisville in the Elite Eight in 2023 and scoring 41 to upset South Carolina in the following game. She scored 41 points to help Iowa take down LSU in the Elite Eight in 2024, getting revenge for the title game loss a year prior.
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