With so much national attention going to Iowa basketball sensation Caitlin Clark, let’s not forget Pearl Moore.

Long before anyone heard of a three-point basket, and before the NCAA acknowledged women’s sports, Moore was the queen of the court.

From 1975 to 1979, the 5-foot-7 guard scored 4,061 points in 120 games for her hometown school, Francis Marion University of Florence, S.C. No woman has ever scored more.

In her final game, she tossed in 60 points in a tournament contest against Tennessee-Chattanooga. She earned all 60 “the old-fashioned way,” minus the benefit of 3-pointers.

At the time, women’s sports were governed by the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). The NCAA did not enter the women’s picture until 1982.

Following graduation from Francis Marion, Moore played in the Women’s Professional

Basketball League (precursor to WNBA) with the New York Stars and St. Louis Streak. She also played professionally in Venezuela.

One of 11 children in her family, Moore was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Now 66, she coached high school basketball in South Carolina for many years and, in 2018, the Pearl Moore Recreation Center in Florence was named in her honor.

Back to the present: On Feb. 15, against Michigan, Clark passed Washington’s Kelsey Plum (3,527 points in 139 games, 2013-2017)) as the NCAA’s all-time scorer.

Clark raised her total to 3,569 points in her first 126 games.

But consider this: Clark has 487 3-pointers compared with Moore’s zero.

Let there be no doubt, Clark is a star of stars, but so was Pearl Moore. Don’t forget it.