It will be a busy summer with Basketball Australia for Stanford’s rising junior Alanna Smith, who was called by her country for two separate teams during a five-day span last week.
The Cardinal’s 6-foot-3 forward was first named to the selection squad camp for the Australian Opals ahead of the FIBA Asia Cup. The Opals, Australia’s full national team, will convene in Phoenix on June 25 to select a roster for the Asia Cup which begins in Bangalore, India on July 23.
Australia is in Group B along with Korea, the Philippines and Japan. Group A consists of New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and China. The four countries to reach the semifinals will qualify for the 2018 FIBA World Cup.
Twenty-one players were invited to camp and Smith is one of just two collegians. If selected, Smith and the Opals will fly out for the tournament on July 17.
Smith, the first international recruit in Stanford women’s basketball history, was also named to the 12-person roster for the Australian Emerging Opals squad that will represent their country at the World University Games in Chinese Taipei in late August.
That team consists of players who are currently completing university studies and are under the age of 23 with six coming from American colleges. The Emerging Opals have been drawn into Group D where they will face Russia, Lithuania and Argentina in pool play beginning on August 21.
Smith is an experienced member of Basketball Australia’s national team program and has played in three international tournaments around the globe.
She led Australia to a third-place finish and was named to the All-Star Five at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Chekhov, Russia in July 2015.
She paced Australia’s Under-19 Gems squad in points, rebounds, blocks and steals while playing 22.3 minutes per game.
Smith tied for 12th in the entire tournament in points per game (12.6), tied for 15th in rebounds (7.0), tied for third in blocks (2.7) and tied for 23rd in steals (1.3).
She also made 33-of-76 attempts from the floor in seven games and finished 22nd at the event in field goal percentage (.434).
Smith led all competitors in scoring at the 2014 FIBA Oceania U18 Championship, averaging 21.0 points on 65.2 percent shooting to go along with 7.2 rebounds and represented Australia at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship in Amsterdam, averaging 5.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Smith was one of Stanford’s most productive players down the stretch of her sophomore season, averaging 14.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in the Cardinal’s final 15 games. During Stanford’s Final Four run, she averaged 15.4 points on 52.5 percent shooting, 8.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in five NCAA Tournament games.
The Cardinal is coming off a 32-6 season that included its 13th Final Four appearance and 12th Pac-12 Tournament championship.
By John Cantalupi/Stanford Athletics
By John Cantalupi/Stanford Athletics
By John Cantalupi/Stanford Athletics