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Katherine May “Katie” Smith (born June 4, 1974 in Lancaster, Ohio) is a
professional basketball player for the Detroit Shock in the WNBA.
Smith
spent her formative years in Logan, Ohio. She grew up in a family of
student-athletes. Her brother John Smith won a national championship in
1993 as the center for Mount Union. 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.
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.
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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.
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). |
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 Malgorzata Dydek.
They reached the final of EuroLeague Women.
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 women's
professional basketball, having notched over 6000 points in both her ABL
and WNBA career.
Source:
Wikapedia |
