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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
> Up next: 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Cottey College in Nevada, Mo.
As the leading scorer at any level of women's college basketball, Grace Beyer has performed her entire career largely unseen and underappreciated.
She sometimes threatens to score more points than there are fans in the stands. Her biggest games have had few witnesses.
There were 123 on hand to see Beyer score 59 points at Columbia College in January 2023. No one bothered to list the crowd the day she had 57 against McPherson. Her 51 at William Woods two weeks ago were seen by 395.
But she gets plenty of attention from opposing coaches and players who have tried to devise ways to slow the guard at University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy.
Beyer has been on the receiving end of cheap shots and clawed hands. She even has been derided for her scoring, which has led all NAIA players the past three seasons from the obscurity of a tiny campus nestled amid the Washington University medical campus.
"There are people always trying to bring me down," Beyer said. "People always tell me I'm a selfish player. Everywhere I go it's the opponents and fans. They could say the same thing about Caitlin Clark. But there's so much more to basketball."
Beyer isn't comparing herself to Clark, the Iowa player who has become a must-see star of the 2023-24 college basketball season. But Clark is relevant in the discussion of Beyer's production.
The race is on
While fans and media are tracking Clark's pursuit of the NCAA career scoring record, Beyer is the player to watch in the race to become the all-time leading scorer at any level of women's college basketball.
Beyer has 3,496 career points. Clark has 3,351. The most points scored...