INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Middle Tennessee junior forward Alysha Clark concluded the 2008-09 season as the nation's leading scorer with a 27.5 points per game average according to the final statistics released by the NCAA.
Clark, a Mt. Juliet, Tenn., product, finished nearly a full four points ahead of second-place, James Madison's Dawn Evans who averaged 23.8 ppg.
Middle Tennessee becomes the first women's program in NCAA history to have two different players lead the country in scoring in back-to-back seasons after Amber Holt posted a 27.4 ppg mark in 2007-08. Only two men's programs (Furman in 1953-54, 1954-55 and Loyola Marymount in 1988-89, 1989-90) have accomplished the feat.
Clark was selected to three All-American teams for her outstanding season, including Second Team recognition from CBSSports.com, Third Team honors from the Associated Press and Honorable Mention accolades on the State Farm Coaches' Team.
She netted a Division I-high, school record and Sun Belt Conference-record tying 50 points in the win at Troy February 11. She then poured in 45 points to set a Murphy Center standard in the regular-season finale against Western Kentucky to give her two of the top-four single-game scoring efforts during the campaign.
Clark collected the Sun Belt Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors, while being picked as the Sun Belt Player of the Week a single-season record six times during the year. She also was the Sun Belt Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and was named to the all-tournament team.
She was among the nation's leading scorers all season, holding a spot in the top five during 25 of the 26 reporting dates, including the final list. The only time outside the top five was a ninth-place showing in early December.
As a whole under head coach Rick Insell, the Blue Raiders have had a player in the top 10 national leaders for points per game for 71 consecutive NCAA reporting periods, dating back to January 18, 2007. Since Insell took the reigns of the program prior to the 2005-06 campaign, a Middle Tennessee player has been in the top 10 for 86 of a possible 93 reporting dates, with 61 of the 86 in the top five.
Clark tallied 935 points on the season, also leading the country. Her total ranks as the fifth highest in a single season in NCAA history, just surpassing the 930 scored by Holt a year ago. Clark was one of two players this season to top the 900-point mark with Louisville's Angel McCoughtry registering 901 in leading the Cardinals to the national championship game and doing so by playing five more games than Clark.
Other top-50 notable individual statistics which listed Middle Tennessee players included field goal percentage (Clark, 5th, 60.7), steals per game (Chelsia Lymon, 19th, 2.8), 3-point field goal percentage (Brandi Brown, 21st, 40.9), rebounds per game (Clark, 26th, 9.8) and 3-point field goals per game (Brown, 50th, 2.3).
The Blue Raiders finished in the top 25 out of 328 Division I programs in a number of team categories, including 3-point field goals made per game (2nd, 8.7), scoring margin (4th, 16.1), field goal percentage (5th, 46.6), scoring offense (8th, 76.4), turnover margin (9th, +5.38), won-lost percentage (14th, 82.4), assists per game (15th, 16.1), steals per game (16th, 11.1), free throw percentage (17th, 75.0), assist-turnover ratio (20th, 1.0) and 3-point field goal percentage (22nd, 36.3).
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