Katie Smith
Encyclopedia : K : KA : KAT : Katie Smith
-->Katie Smith (born Katherine May Smith on June 4, 1974 in Lancaster, Ohio) is a professional basketball player for the Detroit Shock in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her primary position is shooting guard. Sometimes she plays small forward.
Contents
Personal
Smith spent her formative years in Logan, Ohio. She began playing basketball as early as the 5th grade on a boys team and took tap dance and ballet lessons as a youngster. She grew up in a family of student-athletes. In high school she was named the national Gatorade Player of the Year during her senior year as she guided the Lady Chiefs to the Division I Ohio Girl's Basketball state championship game.College years
Smith attended Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio from 1992 to 1996, and played for their women's basketball team, the Buckeyes. During her time at OSU, she broke the Big Ten scoring record for points scored in a career, in men's or women's basketball. She graduated in 1996 with a degree zoology.ABL career
Smith played for the Columbus Quest of the ABL, helping the team to win both League championships in it's only two years of existence.WNBA career
Smith currently plays for the Detroit Shock in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 2005, she became the first American female basketball player to score 5,000 total points in a professional career. She is the WNBA all time leading scorer.From 1999 to 2005 Smith played for the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx where her outside shooting was the central focus of the Lynx offense. On July 30, 2005, Smith was traded to the Detroit Shock along with the Lynx's 2006 second round pick to for Chandi Jones, Stacey Thomas and the Shock's 2006 first round draft pick.
In 2006, Smith became the first WNBA player to win the allstar game as a member of both the eastern and western conference team.
International career
Smith helped the US earn the gold medals in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games as well as the 1998 and 2002 World Championship.Trivia
- Her father (John, Jr.), played football at Ohio University (OU), and won three varsity letters in the 1960s before becoming a dentist.
- Her younger brother, Tom, earned three varsity letters playing football at OU as well as being a member on their track and field team. Tom won the 1996 Mid-American Conference championship in the discus throw.
- Her older brother, John, was a member of the Mount Union football team that won the Division III National title.
Vital statistics
- Position: Guard/Forward
- Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
- College: Ohio State University
- Team(s): Minnesota Lynx, Detroit Shock
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.