Dyaisha Fair is in her fifth season at Syracuse and has scored more than 3,300 points for the Orange, putting her into elite company across NCAA women’s basketball history.
Syracuse superstar Dyaisha Fair cracked the top five of the NCAA women’s basketball all-time scoring list after passing Brittney Griner and breaching the 3,300-point threshold this past weekend.
Fair, 22, scored 23 points for No. 17 Syracuse in a 63-53 win on Senior Day over Pittsburgh to eclipse the 3,283 points Griner scored for Baylor between 2009 and 2013.
All four players ahead of Fair on the all-time list are now also guards.
The Rochester, NY, native entered this week needing to add another 391 to her 3,302 points to move level with Missouri State standout Jackie Stiles in fourth.
From there, former Ohio State star Kelsey Mitchell is a further nine points away on 3,402 before a big gap to Washington alumnus Kelsey Plum (3,527) and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (3,600+).
Below, Mirror Sports US explores Fair’s backstory and delves deeper into her place among women’s college basketball greats…
Who is Dyaisha Fair?
Fair is a 5-foot-5 fifth-year senior guard averaging 21.8 points per game at Syracuse this campaign. She spent her first three collegiate campaigns at Buffalo – becoming the program’s all-time top scorer with 2,035 points – before transferring to Syracuse for the last two.
In her first season with the Orange, she was named First-Team All-ACC and All-Defense. Fair has previously been a semifinalist for the Dawn Staley and Nancy Lieberman awards, plus the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award at Buffalo.
The Rochester native played four years at Edison Tech High School, three as team captain.
Fair has previously named LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as two of her favourite athletes, alongside Skylar Diggins-Smith and fellow Rochester native Shenise Johnson.
What has Dyaisha Fair’s coach said?
“She came from the bottom of Rochester with that skill set, and nobody was willing to give her a chance,” Felisha Legette-Jack, who also coached Fair at the Bulls, told reporters Sunday.
“When you tell somebody that you believe in them and you tell them that they are enough, they will soar. [Fair] is a living example of that.”
What has Dyaisha Fair said about herself?
“Coming from Rochester, it’s not the easiest place, you know, to get from, to get out of it,” Fair said Sunday.
“To start from there and be able to prove everyone that doubted me before I got here, to prove them wrong and to get here and be a part of the culture of what Coach Jack instills in her players has made me realize that over time
“There’s always light on the other side, and that no matter what if you keep working, you’ll reach it.”
Does Dyaisha Fair have a WNBA future?
Fair’s WNBA prospects are uncertain in part because of her size. She’ll need to shoot lights-out to succeed at the next level.
“I think she’s under the radar still,” her coach said last week. “Not because they don’t know her, they don’t want to know about her.
“My phone should be ringing off the hook. I’ve not had one WNBA coach in my gym. Not one.”
But that does not deter Fair. “I feel like I can play with anyone in the country,” she said. “I know I’m capable of playing in that league or anywhere in the world. It’s just who’s going to be willing to take that chance on me?”