Lynette Woodard rejects idea Caitlin Clark broke her scoring record: 'You can't duplicate what you're not duplicating'

It’s been an incredible season for Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark, becoming college basketball’s all-time scoring leader regardless of gender. However, one person doesn’t think Clark really has that record and it’s the former record holder from the AIAW era of women’s basketball, Lynette Woodard.

While speaking at the WBCA Convention, Woodard explained that she doesn’t think her record has been broken because of how different the game Clark is playing today. In particular, she pointed out that in her era, she played without a three-point line and a ball the same size the men used.

“I am the hidden figure but no longer now,” Lynette Woodard said. “My record was hidden from everyone for 43 years. I don’t think, I’ll just go ahead and get the elephant out of the room. I don’t think my record has been broken because you can’t duplicate what you’re not duplicating.”

Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard says her all-time scoring record has NOT been broken by Caitlin Clark

#caitlinclark #lynettewoodard #ncaabasketball #collegebasketball #womenscollegebasketball #wfinalfour #finalfour #marchmadness pic.twitter.com/R9X1neT9Bo

— Chrystal Stone (@chrystalstone_) April 6, 2024

“So, unless you come with a men’s basketball and a two-point shot, you know,” Woodard said to loud applause. “But just for you. So, you can understand so you can help me spread that word.”

Lynette Woodard isn’t the first person to take issue with the idea that Caitlin Clark broke the scoring record. Many have pointed out that “Pistol” Pete Maravich, the all-time leader on the men’s side only played three seasons and was without a three-point line as well. Despite that, Clark still stands alone atop the record books with 3,921 points going into the National Championship Game against South Carolina.

When Caitlin Clark broke the NCAA women’s scoring record, she didn’t break Lynette Woodard’s record. She broke Kelsey Plum’s. That’s because the NCAA doesn’t recognize women’s stats during the AIAW era that Woodard played in, and when Clark later passed Woodard it brought attention to what she accomplished as a player at Kansas.

Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder even called out the NCAA for not recognizing Woodard’s scoring mark.

“I want to talk about Caitlin, obviously, because tonight is the night of the real record,” Bluder said at the time. “To me, for the AIAW record that Lynette Woodard held, that was the real one. For some reason, the NCAA does not want to recognize the basketball that was played prior to 1982, and that’s wrong. We played basketball back then. They just don’t want to recognize it. And that hurts the rest of us that were playing at that time. There’s no reason why that should not be the true record.”

Sports are always going to have a debate regarding whether players from one era to the next are better or worse than one another. That’s no different for women’s basketball and it’s clear that Woodard feels passionately about recognizing how the sport has changed when it comes to the record.