Francis Marion's Lauryn Taylor Sets NCAA Record with 44 Rebounds vs. North Greenville

Francis Marion senior Lauryn Taylor made NCAA history on Thursday night in the Patriots' 85-62 win over North Greenville.

The 5'11" center set an NCAA record with 44 rebounds—30 defensive, 14 offensive—in the Division II matchup, according to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). She also scored 34 points in the win.

The previous NCAA record was held by former Delta State player Deborah Temple, who recorded 40 rebounds in a Division I matchup against Alabama-Birmingham in February 1983.

Taylor, who posted her 18th double-double of the season, recorded 16 rebounds in the first quarter, nine in the second, eight in the third and 11 in the fourth.

Her previous high for rebounds this season was 21, which came against Lees-McRae in January.

"I prefer to rebound over scoring anyway, so I was just doing what I like to do–having fun," Taylor said after the game, according to Justin Driggers of SC Now. "…I'm excited, but that's not what I was going into the game for. I was just trying to play the best game I could."

Taylor's 44 rebounds also broke the Francis Marion record set by LaRue Fields in a win over South Carolina in 1976. Fields posted 32 rebounds in that game.

"I've been doing this for 30 years (and) I've never seen a box score that looks like this," Francis Marion head coach Jeri Porter said. "…It just blew my mind. To the point that Lauryn made – Lauryn loves the game, right? So, when you enjoy what you do as much as she does, you go out and you do stuff like this.

"You add the God-given ability that she's got that most of us don't have and could never think about having, you add the love of the game, and you get these kinds of performances."

In addition to setting the NCAA record, Taylor passed Christy Wright for ninth on the Francis Marion all-time scoring list with 1,603 points and passed Jeannette Alston for seventh on the all-time rebounding list with 948 boards.

The Patriots improved to 17-6 on the season with Thursday's win. They return to the floor on Saturday against UNC Pembroke.