Women's Basketball 9/4/2020 4:02:00 PM by Scott Goode (9/4/20)

Oldest Record in the Book: Kymm Alexander's 24 Free-Throw Attempts, Not 22 Rebounds

This is the second of a series of stories about the oldest records on the book at Harding University. I will start with the oldest single-event records. For most sports, that would be the single-game or single-match record. I will have to tweak it a little for sports like cross-country and tennis where my plan does not work out as well. The series will appear periodically on HardingSports.com during the fall semester.

It only took until the second record in this series for a statistician's nightmare to occur. In looking up the oldest individual record for women's basketball, I came across Harding Hall of Famer Nancee Wilson's 22-rebound performance against Evangel on Dec. 14, 1991. It's the oldest record, except it's not, because it's not a record. I'll explain.

Over the last few months, Harding sports information assistant Nathan Looney scanned in tens of thousands of documents from the archives, including box scores from the women's basketball team. Thanks to his work, Harding fans now have access on HardingSports.com to box scores going way back*. That includes the box score of Harding's game against Evangel on Dec. 14, 1991, at the Ashcroft Center in Springfield, Missouri.

*To view the box scores, go to the women's basketball schedule page and change the year to the season you would like, then click on box score next to the game.

The box score shows that Harding won the game 69-56 to boost its record to 9-0. Karyl Hartsfield and Kymm Hudson led the team with 19 points each, and Nancee Wilson led the team with 19 rebounds. Not 22. She had seven offensive rebounds and 12 defensive rebounds. An outstanding game with lots of rebounds but not the school record.

The good news for Nancee Wilson was that she already held the record. She had 20 rebounds against Christian Brothers on Nov. 14, 1989, and again on Nov. 27, 1991. The bad news for Nancee Wilson is that her then-record of 20 rebounds has since been tied once and broken twice. She is no longer the record holder.

I'm not sure when the mistake happened, but the 1992-93 Harding Women's Basketball Media Guide lists her total for the game at 22 rebounds and lists Wilson as the single-game record holder. It also lists the game as occurring on Dec. 4, instead of Dec. 14. That error likely came from the date being recorded incorrectly on the box score. The inflated rebound total and the incorrect date remained in the record book until today (well, until we update the record book and make the changes online).

Angie Fouts broke Nancee Wilson's rebound record with 21 rebounds vs. Lyon on Feb. 26, 1996. In case you are wondering, I verified that record using the scanned files. Angie also had 32 points in an 83-72 victory that day. On Dec. 29, 2002, Heather Lawrence grabbed 20 rebounds in a road contest against Mississippi University for Women, and on Mar. 1, 2003, tied Angie Fouts's record with 21 rebounds against Henderson State.

So the women's basketball record for rebounds in a game now stands corrected at 21. But it's not the oldest record, which is what this series is all about.

The oldest record came on Nov. 19, 1993, when Harding Hall of Famer Kymm Alexander attempted 24 free throws in a 74-72 victory over Northeastern State, ironically at the Ashcroft Center in Springfield, Missouri, where Harding played in the Evangel Tournament.

Jama Fullerton hit a 3-pointer with less than a minute left to win the game for Harding, but Alexander led the Lady Bisons with 26 points, shooting 16 of 24 at the free-throw line. The rest of Harding's team was 3 of 4 at the line. Her record of 24 attempts still stands nearly 27 years later.

Alexander's 16 made free throws were the record at the time. She tied it 11 days later against Williams Baptist and set the current record at 17 on Jan. 31, 1994, against Lyon.

The oldest team record for Harding women's basketball came on Dec. 2, 1988, when the Lady Bisons put on a shooting clinic in an 83-72 victory over Southwest Baptist in a game played at the John Brown Invitational in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Harding shot 27 of 40 from the field, a 67.5% shooting percentage that still stands as the school record after almost 32 years.

Oldest Record in the Book Series
Baseball - Preacher Roe's 26 Strikeouts

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Oldest Record in the Book: Kymm Alexander's 24 Free-Throw Attempts, Not 22 Rebounds