STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior forward Alanna Smith was selected to the 2018-19 CoSIDA Academic All-District Women's Basketball First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) it was announced Thursday. Smith now advances to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected early next month.
The academic all-district women's basketball teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. The teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada with District 8 encompassing Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai'i, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Canada.
Smith, who picked up her third Pac-12 Player of the Week nod of the season earlier this week and was also named the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week, had double-doubles in both of Stanford's recent victories in Los Angeles and averaged 22.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. She had 22 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in the Cardinal's 65-51 win at UCLA on Feb. 15. After losing the nail on her right index finger in the opening minutes at USC, the senior gutted out 23 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and hit the game-winning layup with 3.1 seconds remaining in a 69-67 win on Feb. 17.
Smith also surpassed 1,500 career points against the Trojans, becoming the 16th player in program history to hit the mark. Eight of her 18 career double-doubles have come in the last 16 games.
Smith remains on every major watch list including the Katrina McClain Award, Wooden Award, Wade Trophy, Naismith Trophy and Senior CLASS Award, and has backed up that recognition with her play. She is shooting 51.8 percent from the field (191-of-369), 41.7 percent from behind the arc (60-of-144) and averaging a team-high 20.3 points per game to go with 8.2 rebounds.
Smith is one of two players in the country averaging 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game this season along with Princeton's Bella Alarie. She would be just the fifth player in program history to average 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in a season, joining Chiney Ogwumike (2013-14 and 2012-13), Nneka Ogwumike (2011-12), Nicole Powell (2003-04) and Jeanne Ruark Hoff (1979-80 and 1978-79).
Smith is also tracking to join Elena Delle Donne as the only players 6-foot-4 and taller over the past 20 years to shoot better than 40 percent from 3-point range for an entire season. Delle Donne made 41.3 percent as a freshman at Delaware in 2009-10 (NCAA minimum of two made 3-pointers per game).
The 6-foot-4 Smith is 15th in school history in scoring (1,511) and second in blocks (210) and has made 134 career 3-pointers. She is within range of joining an elite company of players that have put together careers of 1,600 points, 150 made triples and 200 blocks. Since 1999-00, the only three to do that are Delle Donne (3,039 points; 206 3-pointers; 273 blocks), Maya Moore (3,036 points; 311 3-pointers; 204 blocks) and Breanna Stewart (2,676 points; 152 3-pointers; 414 blocks).
A psychology major with a 3.47 cumulative GPA, Smith has twice earned Pac-12 all-academic recognition. In January, she created Stanford's first Human Trafficking Awareness game against Washington State after taking a class from Professor Katherine Jolluck on the issue last quarter and listening to a presentation from women's basketball public address announcer Betty Ann Hagenau, who is also the founder of the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition.
Intensely interested in early childhood development, Smith also spent a quarter last year at the Bing Nursery School on campus as part of her PSYCH 147 class. A supervised experience with young children, Smith was active in the seminar on developmental issues in the teaching and learning environment at Bing, which is a program within the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford with a mission to promote understanding of child development and improve the lives of young children.
The No. 7 Cardinal wraps up its regular-season home schedule this weekend with Arizona on Friday (7 p.m.) and No. 17 Arizona State on Sunday (1 p.m.). Smith and her fellow seniors, Shannon Coffee and Marta Sniezek, will be honored in a postgame ceremony following the game against the Sun Devils.