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.
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“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.â€
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 by any woman is 3,855 by Miriam Walker, who played at NAIA Claflin University (in Orangeburg, South Carolina), and the most in the NCAA is 3,527 by Kelsey Plum at Washington.
“Scoring 30 points a game is not easy, no matter what level you play at,†UHSP coach Jeff Reis said. “I don’t know how many players in NAIA have scored 30 in a game let alone averaged that for two seasons.
“At first, people said she was a good player on a bad team and shot every time. The next year, that started changing. This year, we tried to play better teams, and people got to understand how good she is. It’s hard to score 30. No one does it besides Caitlin Clark, and people don’t understand what goes into doing it.â€
Over the weekend, both had impressive games in losses: Beyer scored 47 on a gym floor highlighted by mascot Mortarmer McPestle, and Clark had 45 on network television.
Playing in obscurity
After leading the country in scoring the past two seasons, Beyer is averaging 34.5 points in her final year of eligibility. She needs to average 30 in UHSP’s remaining minimum games to break the NAIA mark.
Yet few people know what she has accomplished. While Clark plays home games in front of sellout crowds of 15,000 — and once in front of 55,646 at Kinnick Stadium — Beyer goes about her business with an average of 59 fans at the Eutectics’ home gym.
No one saw any of this coming when she arrived to pursue a doctor of pharmacy degree, which requires six years of work.
“I’m more of a focal point than I was in high school,†in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, Beyer said. “I never would have imagined being close to breaking any type of scoring records. It’s something I pride myself on with my hard work, but it’s not something I would have imagined originally.â€
Beyer showed no inclination of pursuing points in UHSP’s game last week against Central Baptist. She spent the first quarter driving and pitching to open 3-point shooters before looking for shots. The defense eventually loosened, allowing her to score 33 points with seven rebounds and six assists.
Those points came with her taking 15 shots because she repeatedly got to the free-throw line and made all 16 of her attempts. She scored 47 two days later.
“She has a very high basketball IQ and sees things that a lot of kids at the NAIA level don’t see,†longtime Central Baptist coach Lyle Middleton said. “She has a motor that doesn’t change. She doesn’t play 100 mph or play slow. She plays her pace and makes you make mistakes and kills you with them.â€
In her 120 career games as of Saturday — the same number as Clark — Beyer has scored in the 30s in 38 games, in the 40s in 15 games and in the 50s in three games. She has collected the NAIA national player of the week honor seven times and American Midwest Conference player of the week 30 times.
Reis is convinced the main focus of some opponents is to keep Beyer from adding to those numbers.
“Some teams just don’t want her to score 30,†he said. “It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. You’d think it would be about the final score.â€
Other big numbers
And yes, Beyer does more than score. She also leads the Eutectics with averages of 8.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals. She has three career triple-doubles. As with Clark, the scoring numbers jump off a page with an average of 34.5 this season after 32.3 last year and 32.9 the year before.
Beyer and Clark actually did share a spot on one All-America team last season as both were named the academic player of the year for their division, Beyer collecting her second in a row.
Reis calls her a nerd.
“I am a nerd,†she said. “I feel you have to be somewhat of a nerd to go into pharmacy.â€
Nerd as in intelligent. Beyer has one grade that wasn’t an A at UHSP — a B-plus that she blames partly on her coach.
Last year at this time, she didn’t know if she would use her final season of eligibility because of the demands of the classroom. Reis tried to lure her back in part by telling her about the NAIA career scoring mark that was in reach. She decided that walking away from basketball would be too difficult.
Then a few weeks ago, she started seeing the glut of material on social media about Clark approaching the NCAA scoring record. For the first time, she realized her total was in the same neighborhood.
UHSP has a minimum of 12 games remaining, depending on how far it advances in the postseason. Iowa has a minimum of 12 with a strong possibility of more in the Big Ten tournament and NCAA Tournament. Additionally, Clark has another year of eligibility remaining if she chooses to use it.
Regardless, having played the same number of games as Clark, Beyer has placed herself in elite company.
“I love Caitlin Clark’s game,†Beyer said. “She’s considered one of the best of all time, so being anywhere close to her numerically is pretty special.â€