Katie Smith

Infobox WNBA Player
name = Katie Smith

---

caption =
team = Detroit Shock
number = 30
position = Shooting guard/small forward/Point guard
height_ft = 5 | height_in = 11
weight_lbs = 174
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1974|06|4
birth_place = Lancaster, Ohio
college = Ohio State
draft = 1^st, Post-Expansion Draft Player Allocation
draft_year = 1999
draft_team = Minnesota Lynx
career_start = 1996
career_end = 2008
former_teams = Columbus Quest (1996-98)
Minnesota Lynx (1999-2005)
awards = Big Ten MVP (1996)
All-WNBA First Team (2001, 2003)
Five-time WNBA All-Star
WNBA's All-Decade Team (2006)
WNBA Finals MVP (2008)

Katherine May “Katie” Smith (born June 4, 1974 in Lancaster, Ohio) is a professional basketball player for the Detroit Shock in the WNBA. Her primary position is shooting guard, although she sometimes plays small forward or point guard.

Personal

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 National Player of the Year during her senior year as she guided the Lady Chieftains to the Division I Ohio Girls' Basketball state championship game.

College years

Smith attended the 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 2001.

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.

She is 3rd in the list of all time leaders in scoring in the WNBA behind Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson.

Smith was the MVP of the 2008 WNBA Finals, when the Detroit Shock beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 3-0.

International career

*Smith helped the US earn the gold medals in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 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 : flagicon|Poland 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. He now is the head football coach at Bexley High School.
* She is the all time leading scorer in women's professional basketball, having notched over 6000 points in both her ABL and WNBA career.

External links

* [http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/katie_smith/index.html WNBA Player Profile]
* [http://www.usabasketball.com/women_team.php?bios=smith_katie Olympic Player Profile]
* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_19991.htm Katie Smith's U.S. Olympic Team bio]