STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior forward Alanna Smith is one of 10 NCAA women's basketball student-athletes selected as finalists for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award®.
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The finalists were chosen by national media from a list of 30 candidates announced in November. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to submit votes online at the Senior CLASS Award website through March 25. Fan votes will be combined with those of the media and Division I head coaches to determine the winners. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2019 NCAA Women's Final Four® this spring.
Smith is on a laundry of watch lists in addition to the Senior CLASS Award, including the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy, Katrina McClain Award and Wooden Award.
A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week this season (Dec. 17 and Jan. 14) and the espnW and USBWA National Player of the Week from Dec. 17, Smith is shooting 53.6 percent from the field (163-of-304), 45.0 percent from behind the arc (54-of-120) and averaging a team-high 20.9 points per game to go with 8.1 rebounds.
Smith, who has double-doubles in six of her last 12 games, is the only player in the country averaging 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game this season and one of five shooting 45 percent both overall and from deep. She is on track on 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 20th in school history in scoring (1,443) and fifth in blocks (197) and has made 128 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). At her current pace, Smith would reach those numbers by the end of the regular season.
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.
Smith is involved in charitable causes throughout the community. She visits Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, playing games, interacting and spending time with patients at one of the country's foremost pediatric care facilities and has given her time at St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room, which provides hot, nutritious meals fifty-two weeks a year, charges no fees and turns no one away. Smith has also volunteered at Children's Champions, an annual family-friendly event benefitting at-risk children in the Bay Area featuring drills, clinics, obstacle courses, relay races, games and arts and crafts.
Smith and the No. 11 Cardinal have a big weekend coming up in Maples Pavilion, hosting No. 7 Oregon State on Friday night at 6 p.m. and No. 3 Oregon on Sunday at 1 p.m.
