Prep Basketball Record Falls to Girl With 6,266

A 6-foot-2 senior racked up 54 points during a tournament game to become the top scorer in high school basketball history, with a career total of 6,266.

About 4,000 people packed a high school gym here to see Lynne Lorenzen, 18, of Ventura (Iowa) High School set the record Monday night in a girls’ tournament even though she scored 10 points below her game average.

“I came out kind of sluggish, but I knew tonight would be the night if things all went well,” Lorenzen said.

Among those in the crowd was Denise Long, who set the old scoring record of 6,250 while playing for Union-Whitten from 1965 to ’69. Lorenzen reached that figure with 5 minutes, 12 seconds left in the third quarter of her team’s 87-51 victory over Meservey-Thornton.

A roar went up from the crowd when Lorenzen got the record-breaking points and the game was stopped for five minutes so the feat could be recognized.