In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throws or field goals. In National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I basketball, where a player's career is at most four seasons under normal circumstances, it is considered a notable achievement to reach the 1,000-points scored threshold. In even rarer instances, players have reached the 2,000- and 3,000-point plateaus (no player, whether male or female, has ever scored 4,000 or more points at the Division I level). The top 25 highest scorers in NCAA Division I women's basketball history are listed below. While the NCAA's current three-division format has been in place since the 1973–74 season, it did not sponsor women's sports until the 1981–82 school year; before that time, women's college sports were governed by the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).

To be listed in the NCAA record book, a player must have been active in at least three seasons during the era in which the NCAA governed women's sports—although for those players who qualify for inclusion in the record book, AIAW statistics are included. Most notably, Lynette Woodard of Kansas, whose career total of 3,649 points made her the career scoring leader in women's major-college basketball before Iowa's Caitlin Clark passed her on February 28, 2024, was not recognized as the NCAA career leader because her entire college career (1977–81) predated NCAA sponsorship of women's sports.

Some players among the top 25 scorers in Division I history played in the era before the three-point line was officially adopted in women's basketball on an experimental basis in 1986–87 and fully in 1987–88. All of the players with a dash through the three-point field goals column were affected by this rule. Valorie Whiteside of Appalachian State is the only three-point shot era player on this list who did not make a single three-point shot, and she only played in one season in which the use of the three-pointer was mandatory.

The three-point distance was first marked at from the center of the basket, the same distance then used in NCAA men's basketball. From that point through the 2007–08 season, the three-point lines remained at . On May 3, 2007, the NCAA men's basketball rules committee passed a measure to extend the distance of the men's three-point line back to ; the women's line remained at the original distance until it was moved to match the men's distance effective in 2011–12. The men's distance was changed to match the FIBA standard of in a two-phase implementation that took effect in 2019–20 in Division I and 2020–21 in Divisions II and III, but the women's distance was not changed until 2021–22, when it was moved to match the men's distance.

Two players on this list have been enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Cheryl Miller; and Maya Moore. Elena Delle Donne and Chamique Holdsclaw have been announced as 2026 inductees and will formally enter the Hall that August.

Five players among the top 25 played basketball in more than four seasons. Rachel Banham of Minnesota tore her ACL 10 games into her senior season of 2014–15. She qualified for a medical hardship waiver, popularly known as a "medical redshirt", that allowed her to compete in a fifth season. Dyaisha Fair of Buffalo and Syracuse, Ashley Joens of Iowa State, Katelyn Young of Murray State, and Kyla McMakin of Longwood and Saint Louis benefited from a blanket NCAA waiver that did not count the 2020–21 season, which was impacted by COVID-19, against the athletic eligibility of any basketball player. Two players among the top 25 played at more than one school: Fair, who played the first three seasons of her career at Buffalo before transferring to Syracuse for her final two seasons of eligibility, and McMakin, who played three seasons at Longwood before transferring to Saint Louis.

Key

Pos.GFCRef. Position Guard Forward Center References

† Elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame* Elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Bold Denotes current NCAA D1 Women's Basketball Record

Top 25 career scoring leaders Player Pos. Team Careerstart Careerend Gamesplayed Field goalsmade 3-point field goals made Free throws made Points PPG Ref. G Iowa 2020 2024 139 1,293 548 817 3,951 G Washington 2013 2017 139 1,136 343 912 3,527 25.4 G Buffalo / Syracuse 2019 2024 153 1,159 430 655 3,403 G Ohio State 2014 2018 139 1,120 497 665 3,402 24.5 † G Missouri State 1997 2001 129 1,160 221 852 3,393 26.1 C Baylor 2009 2013 148 1,247 2 787 3,283 22.2 F Mississippi Valley State 1985 1989 110 1,196 24 708 3,122 F Drake 1980 1984 120 1,104 — 907 3,115 26.0 G FIU 2010 2014 131 1,099 160 749 3,107 23.7 G Minnesota 2011 2016 144 1,081 354 577 3,093 21.5 G/F Iowa State 2018 2023 158 988 344 740 3,060 19.3 †* F Delaware 2009 2013 114 1,030 206 773 3,039 26.7 †* F UConn 2007 2011 154 1,171 311 383 3,036 19.7 F Murray State 2020 2025 155 1,122 141 644 3,029 19.5 †* F Tennessee 1995 1999 146 1,233 36 523 3,025 20.4 †* F USC 1982 1986 126 1,159 — 700 3,018 23.6 G Maine 1994 1998 118 1,055 219 676 3,005 25.5 F Mississippi State 1999 2003 125 1,119 34 709 2,981 23.8 F Appalachian State 1984 1988 116 1,153 0 638 2,944 25.4 G Penn State 2000 2004 133 1,051 357 460 2,919 21.9 C LSU 1980 1984 117 1,259 — 388 2,906 24.8 G Longwood / Saint Louis 2019 2024 164 1,033 315 518 2,899 17.7 F Villanova 2019 2023 119 1,094 210 498 2,896 24.3 G Saint Francis (PA) 2015 2019 130 965 472 473 2,874 22.1 G Oral Roberts 2009 2013 126 1,052 195 568 2,867 22.8

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