The NCAA defended its policy of denoting the scoring accomplishments of Kansas legend Lynette Woodard separately from its main women’s basketball record book in a statement to Mirror Sports US.

Woodard played at Kansas before the NCAA recognized women’s basketball, competing in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) instead.

Despite calls for the NCAA to put her 3,649 points on its official leaderboard – a tally that would have her behind only Iowa guard Caitlin Clark – it doesn’t plan to make any changes.

NCAA responds to Lynette Woodard women's basketball record book controversy after Caitlin Clark feat - The Mirror US

“In an effort to maintain true comparisons for those sports that transitioned from the AIAW to the NCAA for women’s collegiate competition, NCAA career leaders include only those student-athletes who played a minimum of at least three seasons (in a four-year career) or two (in a three-season career) in a specific division during the era of official NCAA statistics, beginning with the 1981-82 season,” wrote an NCAA official to Mirror Sports US.

The official noted that AIAW statistics are listed in a separate section on the NCAA website.

“When women’s programs joined the NCAA from the AIAW, the NCAA agreed to include AIAW records in the record book, which the NCAA has done for years and continues to do,” they said.

“Those records are hosted in a separate section because they were not completed while the schools/teams in question were NCAA members. The NCAA policy for records applies across the board for other associations, with this exception made for just the AIAW.”

They added: “NCAA official statistics responsibilities include compilation, confirmation and maintenance of statistics and records established under ‘NCAA’ governance.

Caitlin Clark has compiled a legendary statistical output in her Iowa career and will look to claim a national title at the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Individual statistics established while schools were/are members of the other associations (including AIAW, NAIA, etc.) are not currently included in ‘NCAA’ records.”

The NCAA’s reasoning is not popular with many people involved in women’s basketball, including ex-UConn star Rebecca Lobo, who now works as a TV analyst for ESPN.

“We aren’t talking about this enough,” Lobo wrote on X. “The NCAA should not only acknowledge the records but embrace the AIAW era. It’s part of the history of women’s college basketball (and the right thing to do).”

After Clark moved beyond Woodard’s unofficial record on Wednesday night, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder issued a statement to reporters asking the NCAA to adjust its policy.