Early in the fourth quarter Sunday, Rachel Banham was aware she was closing in on the 30-point mark in a tight game at Northwestern. The Gophers guard knew when she hit 40, too, thanks to teammates who loudly celebrated as she surpassed her previous career high of 39.
Banham didn't keep track after that, preoccupied with carrying her team to a two-overtime, 112-106 victory. But when she banked in a three-point shot from an awkward angle, she sensed something magical was happening.
"No one does that," she said Monday, laughing at the thought. "How does that go in? And I'm like, 'If that's going in, then I think a lot of shots are going to start falling.' "
A day after Banham tied the NCAA women's single-game scoring record with 60 points, that unthinkable number didn't seem much more real. The senior from Lakeville spent much of her Monday trying to catch up with a flood of congratulatory messages pouring in via text, phone, e-mail and social media, as well as fielding interview requests from national and local media.
Caught up in a fierce game, Banham didn't realize she was closing in on 60 points, or that she was about to tie a record that had stood for nearly 30 years. Not until teammates on the bench shouted the number — and assistant coach Nikita Lowry Dawkins repeated it — did Banham know she had crushed the Big Ten record and equaled the NCAA mark set by Long Beach State's Cindy Brown in 1987.
"Coach Nik grabbed me and she was like, 'You just scored 60 points,' " said Banham, who on Monday was named player of the week by espnW and the Big Ten. "And I just was like, 'Yeah!' I had no idea what to say back. I was like, 'I guess that did just happen.'
"I couldn't even feel it. I didn't know what was going on. It's still crazy to think about."
