Kelsey Plum is the truth

For a brief second, a smile broke across Kelsey Plum’s face as she dribbled herself into rhythm for a free throw early in the third quarter of Washington’s Sunday afternoon game against Boise State. Though the Huskies were already up 17, that wasn’t the reason she was smiling. As the ball settled through the net, Plum became the all-time leading scorer in Pac-12 women’s basketball history, passing former Stanford star, and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, Chiney Ogwumike.

“Growing up, I didn’t think this was in the cards for me,” Plum said shortly after the game on the Pac-12 Network. “I’m not the biggest, I’m not the tallest, I’m not the fastest. But I just think it shows if you work hard, if you trust the process {BAH GAWD KING, THAT’S SAM HINKIE’S MUSIC}, God is going to take care of you, and he certainly has.”

After the departure of Breanna Stewart and her quartet of national championships last spring, women’s college basketball was in need of a new star this season. All the way across the country, on the shores of Lake Washington, Kelsey Plum was ready to answer the call. The 5-foot-8 lefty guard has been a hero in the Pacific Northwest, last year becoming the leading scorer in University of Washington school history before guiding the Huskies to their first ever Final Four. Along the way she was named the first WBCA All-American in school history. But this season, Plum has seized the open spotlight and taken her dynamic game to the national consciousness.

A few days before the season started, Plum made headlines for sinking 145 straight free throws during a drill in practice — despite members of the school band banging away on their drums just a few feet away. Which, perhaps, shouldn’t be too surprising considering last year she set new Pac-12 records for most free throws in a single season (266, which was also the most in the country) and in a career (676).

Shortly after the season began, Plum became the first player in school history to be named to the Associated Press’ Preseason All-American team, and then just weeks ago was named to the 2017 Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year Watch List. Now, of course, Plum is the Pac-12’s all-time leading scorer after dropping a season-high tying 44 points Sunday afternoon — in front of former UConn, and current Seattle Storm legend, Sue Bird — to lead Washington to a 92-66 win over previously undefeated Boise State.

Following Sunday’s game, Plum — who is leading the nation in scoring with 31 points per game on 54.3/43.5/91.8 splits, while also putting up 5.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists a night — has 2,759 career points, which places her 25th on the all-time list. With just 241 points to go, it seems a certainty that Plum will become the first player — man or woman — in Pac-12 history to reach 3,000 career points, and she has an outside chance to catch Jackie Stiles (3,393) for the most points in NCAA women’s basketball history.

Kelsey Plum x Beyonce’s “Run The World (Girls)”

Plum, however, certainly isn’t thinking about breaking any more records. “I’m just glad it’s over…we can move on now” the dynamic scorer said following Sunday’s record-setting performance. “I”m not going to lie, sometimes it takes the fun out of the game when people talk about this record.”

For now, the focus for the hyper-competitive Plum is leading her currently 11th ranked 10-1 Huskies back to the NCAA Tournament, and perhaps, to a second-straight Final Four.

“We have a long tough schedule ahead of us,” Plum told the Pac-12 Network Sunday. “But we’re excited about the challenge.”