KATIE SMITH

'Katherine May “Katie” Smith' (born 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

College years

ABL career

WNBA career

International career

Europe

Trivia

External links

Personal

Smith spent her formative years in Logan, Ohio. She grew up in a family of student-athletes. She began playing basketball as early as the 5th grade on a boys' team and took tap dance and ballet lessons as a youngster. 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 Girls' Basketball state championship game.

College years

Smith was arguably the finest women's basketball player in the history of the Big Ten Conference. She attended Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio from 1992 to 1996, and helped lead the Buckeyes to a Big Ten championship and the NCAA title game her freshman year. During her career at OSU, Smith broke the Big Ten scoring record for points scored in a career, in men's or women's basketball. She was voted Big Ten MVP as a senior.
Smith graduated in 1996 with a degree in zoology. On January 21, 2001, Ohio State honored her as the first female Buckeye athlete to have her number retired. She was also inducted into the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame in October of 2001.

ABL career

Smith played for the Columbus Quest of the ABL, helping the team to win both League championships in its only two full seasons 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.
On August 16, 2007 she became the first professional women's basketball player to score 6000 career points (ABL and WNBA combined).
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, 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 All Star game as a member of both the eastern and western conference teams. She also became the only player to earn both ABL and WNBA championship rings when the Shock won the WNBA title, defeating the Sacramento Monarchs, the same year.
Scored 4500 point (in her WNBA )in the game against San Antonio(on the 31st of July). She is 3rd in the list of all time leaders in scoring in the WNBA behind Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson.

International career

★ Smith helped the US earn the gold medals in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics as well as the 1998 and 2002 World Championships.

★ She played the 2001-2002 season in Lotos Gdynia, the Polish club of Małgorzata Dydek. They reached the final of EuroLeague Women.

Europe

★ 2001-2002 : Lotos Clima Gdynia

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 one of many Mount Union College football teams that won the NCAA Division III title.

★ She is the all time leading scorer in womens professional basketball, having notched 6000 points in both her ABL and WNBA career.

External links

★ WNBA Player Profile

★ Olympic Player Profile

★ Katie Smith's U.S. Olympic Team bio