University of Minnesota Athletics
Banham's Jersey to Be Retired
10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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The University of Minnesota women's basketball program will retire the jersey of one of its all-time great players this season. Rachel Banham, the Gophers' most prolific scorer, will be honored at the Maryland game Jan. 1.
After returning from an ACL injury the previous season, Banham broke most of Minnesota's scoring records and won national acclaim as a fifth-year senior in 2015-16. Named the Big Ten Player of the Year by both coaches and media, the guard from Lakeville, Minn., was a John R. Wooden Award top-five finalist and a first-team All-America selection by the Associated Press and espnW. She is a three-time All-Big Ten First Team and WBCA All-Region honoree.
The Gophers' career (3,093), season (914) and game (60) scoring records all belong to Banham. Her career point total ranks first in the Big Ten and sixth in NCAA history. Banham broke Lindsay Whalen's 12-year-old Minnesota career scoring record. She is the only Big Ten women's player in the 3,000-point club.
Banham's storied senior season included an NCAA record-tying 60 points in a win at Northwestern and a school-record 10 3-pointers at Illinois. She also broke her own school record with 119 3-pointers in a season and 354 in her career.
Banham is the only Gopher to eclipse the 40-point mark three times in her career, all during her senior season. She did so twice in Big Ten play, and set a conference record by averaging 30.5 points per game in league play. A game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer against Iowa was another highlight of her season. Banham is Minnesota's career free throw percentage leader (.857), and set the season record of .895) as a sophomore in 2012-13.
