Smith grows on women's basketball team

JC transfer shows opponents she's not just another tall girl

By Wes Woods, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, November 2, 1998

Rhonda Smith, the 6-foot-8-inch Long Beach State women's basketball center, easily rips down offensive rebounds and then gently puts them back in during practice. The engaging, Downey native's trail to The Beach has not been as smooth, however.

A junior college transfer from Trinity Valley Junior College in Athnes, Texas, Smith came to Long Beach at the request of her colon-cancer stricken father, so he could watch her play. Even with her mother nursing him, the disease claimed his life a little over five months ago.

"My father, he was my biggest fan," the human development major said. "He was at all my games. I'm still here because this is what he wanted me to do. I'm making him proud."

Her father stood 5-feet 7-inches. Her mother stands 6-feet 1-inch. With her older siblings - five brothers and three sisters - under six feet, she is the tallest in her family.

How she became so tall is almost a story in itself. Entering sixth grade, Smith said she was 6-feet 1-inch. Upon entering high school, she rose to 6-feet 7-inch.

When she traveled to Texas she grew another inch to her current height.

Being so tall "they're always staring," Smith said. "It gets tiring sometimes, they're always asking me how tall I am, and asking me about basketball. I don't like that question. But I try to be nice and answer."

And yes, she said she can dunk. Last year, with her junior college coach Kurt Budke throwing her lobs, she jammed them in with one hand.

So what about during a game?

"No," she said. "People are all like 'you should do it ... blah, blah, blah,' but it's really nothing to me. My old coach said, 'You'll be on ESPN' but that's nothing, though. It's just two points ... That's not in my head when I'm down here by myself and I have a layup. I'm just shooting so we can hurry up and play the game."

As a youth, she never touched a basketball until her junior year of high school. She said she had wanted to be a cheerleader, but the basketball coach talked her on the team.

"Then I played basketball at school and that's it. I never practiced after when I went home, I never practiced until the team practiced," she said.

Still, she made it to Trinity Valley, where she led all women's junior college players in blocks and rebounds the past two years. Her team won a national championship in 1996 and was runner up last year.

"She only played 20 minutes [each game at Trinity Valley] because they would beat everybody by 30 points or more," said Head Women's Coach Dallas Boychuk.

She has current aspirations of making the ABL.

"Basketball's a big part of my life. I know a lot of girls from each team. From most of the ABL teams I know someone there," she said.

However, she is not thinking ahead.

"I want to lead the league in blocks and rebounds," Smith said. "And average probably 12 points. But I have to lead in blocks and rebounds." More specifically, she said she is aiming for eight blocks and 10 rebounds a game.

Smith characterizes her game as primarily defense-based.

"Defense wins games," she said. "My college coach always said that. I work on defense more than my offense."

Watching her score with ease in practice, one would never know.