Meet Pearl Moore, the SC Woman Whose College Scoring Record Caitlin Clark Has Yet to Beat
Originally published by Mark Puleo for The Athletic
Before there was Caitlin Clark, before there was Kelsey Plum, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi or even Cheryl Miller, there was Pearl Moore.
Moore isn’t included on many “Greatest Women’s Basketball Players” lists. She’s not even regularly mentioned in discussions on the best pre-WNBA players of all time, like Miller or Nancy Lieberman or Ann Meyers.
Rather, Moore’s legacy is scantly remembered as the hooper from Francis Marion — a tiny university in her hometown of Florence, S.C. — who scored a staggering 4,061 collegiate points from 1975 to 1979.
“One of the greatest players to ever play the women’s game,” said Sylvia Hatchell, Moore’s coach at Francis Marion.
Moore is a soft-spoken, lighthearted, easily embarrassed woman who owns a colossal scoring record that has stood the test of time but garnered hardly any attention before Clark’s record-book sprint. However, she was far more than just a Clark prototype.
“I just really enjoyed playing basketball,” Moore told The Athletic. “I guess I had some success.”