STANFORD, Calif. – Incoming freshman forward Alanna Smith and Australia have swept their way through group play at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Championship in Chekhov, Russia and will begin the Round of 16 against Mali on Wednesday.
Australia’s Under-19 Gems squad opened up the tournament with three convincing wins over Serbia (105-62), Brazil (62-48) and South Korea (87-38) to top Group D and set up tomorrow’s meeting with Mali, the fourth-place finisher from Group C. All teams in Russia qualify for the Round of 16, from which winners will advance to the quarterfinals while losers play classification games from places 9-16. All teams compete until the last day of the championship.
Smith leads her country in scoring, averaging 12.3 points in 20.2 minutes per game. She is also contributing 5.0 rebounds and team-highs in both steals (2.7) and blocks (2.3). The 6-foot-3 post started the week with 18 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and four blocks in the win over Serbia and backed that up with 12 points, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks against Brazil. Smith scored seven and added three boards in Tuesday’s blowout of South Korea.
She is tied for 19th at the event in scoring, 11th in field goal percentage (.481), fourth in blocks and fifth in steals. Smith is the second Cardinal playing internationally this summer. On July 13, rising junior Erica McCall led the United States to gold at the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea, averaging 15.2 points on 59.7 percent shooting and 8.5 rebounds per game.
Australia qualified for this championship following its title at the 2014 FIBA Oceania U18 Championship for Women in Suva, Fiji. The Australians finished third at the 2013 edition of the biennial event held in Lithuania.
Australia went 1-2 at an exhibition tournament in Mercia, Spain last week in which Smith started all three games and averaged 8.0 points and 4.7 rebounds in 19.3 minutes. She scored six points and had five boards in an 85-82 loss to the United States on July 12, went for 12 and eight the next day as Australia beat Spain 72-50 and closed with six points, four rebounds and three steals in a seven-point loss to Canada (67-60) yesterday.
Smith led all competitors in scoring at the aforementioned FIBA Oceania U18 Championship for Women, averaging 21.0 points on 65.2 percent shooting to go along with 7.2 rebounds. In the 98-65 title game victory over New Zealand on December 6, she scored 21 points on 10-of-19 shooting and nabbed four steals.
She represented her country at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women in Amsterdam, averaging 5.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Australia’s fifth-place tournament finish included a 15-point, seven-rebound, nine-block performance for Smith against Japan on August 22. Her FIBA career started at the 2011 FIBA Oceanic U16 Championship for Women in Canberra, Australia.
In February, Smith continued her strong play at the 2015 U20 Australian Junior Championships, propelling her Victoria team to an undefeated record and a dominant 75-41 win over Western Australia in the grand final. She posted averages of 19.8 points and 9.1 rebounds on 50 percent shooting en route to MVP honors and began the tournament with a 30-point, 10-rebound double-double against New South Wales on February 22.
Stanford, coming off its eighth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance, finished its 2014 season 26-10 overall and claimed the program’s 11th Pac-12 Tournament title in 14 years.