Game helps players get noticed
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
SPORTS FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2013
WNBA
Smith, 39, still climbing upward Former Buckeye nears No. 2 spot in career points By Jim Massie THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The game calls Katie Smith with the same sweet song that stirred her as a child when she played basketball and honed her skills hour after hour after hour in Logan. The aches in her knees might testify to the passage of 30 years, but the sound of the crowd and the bouncing ball make it all seem like only yesterday. “I love the whole game,” said Smith, who turned 39 last week while wearing a New York Liberty uniform. “I can’t stay in the gym all day like I did back when I was a kid. My body won’t let me. I’m not dropping 20 points anymore, but I enjoy the competition and doing whatever it takes to win, whether it’s setting a pick, playing defense or hitting a three.” A two-time All-American guard at Ohio State and a three-time Olympic gold medalist, Smith is playing in her 17th professional season and 15th in the WNBA. She knows that she is at a crossroads of the kind that trumps pretending not to hear her mother calling her inside for dinner. Smith tentatively will start for the Liberty tonight against the Connecticut Sun in Madison Square Garden. She needs
DUNCAN WILLIAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Katie Smith, left, loves the challenge of playing defense, New York Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer said.
Smith’s WNBA stats
Games: 453 Points: 6,262
one point to tie Lisa Leslie at 6,263 for second in league history behind Tina Thompson (7,042). Catching Thompson, who plays for the Seattle Storm, won’t happen. “I’m pretty sure this is my last year,” Smith said. “I haven’t officially announced it. I hate the offseason and
PPG: 13.8 FG%: 40.5%
3pt%: 37% FT%: 83.8%
having to get into shape. “I’ve had a blast, but I’m probably at a time in my life when I need to do something different.” She is working on a master’s degree at Ohio State in dietetics, with an eye on becoming a nutritionist. “I also want to coach in college or in the pros,” Smith
Indiana FROM PAGE C1 from Middletown, can be pardoned for not fully comprehending Indiana’s achievement. He wasn’t even born the last time a Big Ten team qualified for the College World Series. That was Michigan in 1984. Indiana (48-14) will play Louisville (51-12) in the first round on Saturday night at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. Schwarber thinks he knows why Indiana broke through. “We are an underrated conference, for sure, but it’s getting better,” he said. “We’ve got a new stadium. Purdue has a new stadium. Nebraska’s stadium is awesome. Other stadiums are being renovated. And we’re on the Big Ten Network. A lot of people saw Nebraska beat Arkansas on that channel. “Our name is getting out there. Big name teams are coming to play in our ballparks.” Ohio State coach Greg Beals can appreciate what the Hoosiers have done for a league that for decades has been
STEVE CANNON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Indiana’s Kyle Schwarber celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in an NCAA super regional. dwarfed by the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Pac-12 and Big 12. “As soon as Indiana got the final out against Florida State to win the super regional, I sent a text message to (Indiana coach) Tracy Smith thanking him for getting the Big Ten to the CWS,” Beals said. “Indiana hasn’t stopped winning since taking two of three from us the final week of the season.” The Buckeyes twice came
within one victory of ending the conference’s College World Series drought. They lost to Wichita State in 1995 under the previous NCAA format of eight regionals with six teams each, and to Cal State Fullerton in 1999 in Game 3 of a best-ofthree super regional. Schwarber can lean on an uncle for advice at this point: Tom Schwarber was a pitcher on the 1991 Ohio State team that finished third in a
said. “I haven’t talked about that for a while. But I enjoy basketball and I enjoy working with young people. I’d like to implement things I’ve learned from the different coaches that I’ve played for over the years.” She rejoined one of those people this season in Bill Laimbeer, the new coach of the Liberty. The two were together in Detroit from 2005 to 2009 and won two WNBA titles in that run. Smith signed on as a role player and a veteran presence in the locker room. She expected to play about 20 minutes a game “give or take” and to do “a little bit of everything.” Team needs changed when guard Essence Carson suffered a season-ending knee injury in a blowout loss to Atlanta last week. Laimbeer started Smith in the rematch, and the Liberty turned the tables on the Dream. Smith’s defense against All-Star guard Angel McCoughtry set the tone. “That’s one of the reasons I got Katie Smith,” Laimbeer said after the game. “She can guard anybody from the 1 to the 5. She wants to stop their best player.” Basketball played its sweet song, and Smith took the invitation to dance. “It’s fun,” she said. “To be here this long, you know you’ve done good work. You’ve been good. It’s pretty cool.” [email protected]
regional. “I’ve told Kyle to just relax — the batters have to swing at strikes and the pitchers have to throw strikes,” Tom said. “I worry that Indiana has never been there before. “I remember that we finished 53-13 in 1991. We were good, really good, but we went into the tournament and played tight. We almost thought, ‘Do we deserve to be here?’ You can’t think like that.” Tom Schwarber just wishes that Kyle, who is batting .376 with 18 home runs and 54 RBI and led the Big Ten in six offensive categories, was a Buckeye. The staff of former Ohio State coach Bob Todd did not recruit Schwarber hard. The only offers he received were from Indiana, Miami University and Cincinnati. “I told Kyle to hold on, that Ohio State was going to get a new coach,” Tom Schwarber said. “But Tracy Smith offered him on his first visit.” Beals started the recruiting process as soon as he was hired, but it was too late: Kyle Schwarber had signed with the Hoosiers the week before. [email protected] @MarkZnidar
C7
Cap City Senior Bowl What: All-star football game for area high-school seniors When: 7 p.m. Saturday Where: Reynoldsburg High School Tickets: $6 at CapCity Preps.com; $8 at the gate
Game helps players get noticed By Isaac Teich THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Six years ago, Anthony Murphy started a website to help City League football players gain the attention of college coaches who might have overlooked them. “I took care of City League kids and did their highlights,” he said. But soon after starting ColumbusCityLeague.com, Murphy realized that players from suburban schools also were struggling to be noticed. “A lot of those kids were getting overlooked, too,” said Murphy, who morphed his site to CapCityPreps.com. The next step was an all-star game for central Ohio players. The sixth Cap City Senior Bowl will be played at 7 p.m. Saturday at Reynoldsburg High School. Two players brought to light by the website were Isaiah Pead of Eastmoor Academy and Rodney Stewart of Brookhaven. Pead, a running back, went to the University of Cincinnati, where he was the 2011 Big East offensive player of the year and a second-round pick of the St. Louis Rams in the 2012 NFL draft. Stewart, a running back, and went to Colorado in 2008 and finished No. 2 on the school’s career rushing list. “The list of putting kids in school, thank-you letters, and well-wishes from parents has been endless,” Murphy said. Geary Godfrey, the defensive coordinator at Independence, will coach the East team. “There are some guys who are still left around Columbus undecided on what college they may want to go to and just need one more game to get to college,” Godfrey said. Among the players in the game will be Corry Benson and Joe Alverson of Marion-Franklin and Division II central district player of the year Maurice Hale of Beechcroft. Several schools will have multiple players in the game, including Gahanna, Bexley, Canal Winchester, Whetstone and Beechcroft. Daivon Barrow, a graduate of Eastmoor and an incoming freshman at Ashland, said he was honored to participate. “It’s a tradition,” Barrow said. “I had a couple friends play in it last year, and they told me how fun it was.” [email protected]
