Washington’s Kelsey Plum was a McDonald’s All American at La Jolla Country Day (Photo: Elaine Thompson, Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES — Washington guard Kelsey Plum’s postgame celebration Sunday consisted of hugs with family and friends, pictures with kids, autographs and then she headed to ESPN’s nearby studios for a SportsCenter spot, her second in two days.
Such is life for the nation’s leading scorer. Plum scored 35 points to move into second place on the NCAA’s career scoring list and help No. 9 Washington beat Southern California 87-74.
Plum’s high scoring at Washington follows a high school career at La Jolla Country Day School (La Jolla, Calif.) in which she was named to the American Family Insurance ALL-USA second team in 2013. She also played for Team USA at the U-19 World Championships in 2013, helping the Americans to the gold medal, and was named a McDonald’s All American.During her four years,
La Jolla went 103-22 with four section titles and a state championship as Plum posted 2,247 points (19.9 average) and averaged 5.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists.
Sunday night, Plum needed just three points to tie former Baylor star Brittney Griner on the list, and she hit a three-pointer with 3:35 left in the first quarter to tie for second. Her free throw with 2:04 left in the first lifted her to second place behind former Missouri State star Jackie Stiles.
Stiles had 3,393 points, and Plum has 3,315. She needs 78 points to tie Stiles.
Asked about the list, she did what she always does in giving credit to the Huskies first.
“I was excited to get the win,” Plum said. “USC had been playing great. We lost to UCLA on Friday so we knew we needed to finish strong this weekend. Any split in the Pac-12 is a good split. It’s an honor. I’ve watched a ton of these amazing women on this list growing up as a kid. Obviously, they’re some of the best people to play. It’s just really cool.”
USC’s emphasis was on defending Plum.
“I thought we made it tough for Kelsey all game long,” USC coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said. “We doubled her when we could and (when) it made sense. We had a player constantly shadowing her for her penetration. We had a couple defensive letdowns, and of course, Kelsey being Kelsey took full advantage of them. She’s just a fantastic player. We doubled her. We had a post player playing shadow defense and sometimes we let her get too deep. Sometimes, she’s really difficult to stop when she gets going.”
NCAA all-time leading scorers
3,393 Jackie Stiles, SW Missouri St (1997-01)
3,315 Kelsey Plum, Washington (2013-17)
3,283 Brittney Griner, Baylor (2009-13)
3,122 Patricia Hoskins, Miss. Valley St. (1986-89)
3,115 Lorri Bauman, Drake (1981-84)
Contributing: USA TODAY High School Sports