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The Columbian
Published: January 14, 2010, 12:00am

Skyview graduate returns to Portland with St. Mary’s team

When her freshman basketball season began, Ashlee Smith was just hoping to play well enough to avoid being asked to take a redshirt season.

She ended up playing in every game for Saint Mary’s College, and claimed a starting position by the time the West Coast Conference schedule began.

When the Gaels visited the University of Portland, the Skyview High School graduate felt the pressure of playing close to home with friends and family in the stands at the Chiles Center. She had 12 points and five rebounds in a 74-62 loss late in an 11-19 season.

Things are different now.

The 6-foot-1 Smith is more comfortable in her role at power forward on a Saint Mary’s team that has already matched last season’s win total and has designs on a WCC championship and a place in the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m really excited for that,” Smith said of Saturday afternoon’s game at UP. “I was pretty nervous last year because my high school team and a lot of my family came. This year, I’m looking forward to seeing everybody — and playing Portland at home, kind of, even though it’s away from home. It’s a pretty big game, so I have to make sure that I’m focused.”

Saturday’s game at the Chiles Center caps a challenging road trip for the Gaels (11-6, 2-0 WCC) that begins today at five-time defending WCC champion Gonzaga.

Smith was her team’s focal point in high school as she garnered First Team All-Class 4A Greater St. Helens League honors three times and was a 4A All-State first team selection as a senior.

Many athletes struggle with the transition from being the star at one level to a role player at the next, but Smith embraces it.

“I kind of felt like at Skyview I was more the go-to player, or the one that the team depended on when it came down to tough situations,” she said. “Coming here, all five of the people on the court, you can give the ball to and they’ll make the right decision. So it’s a lot different, going from that to a team where everyone has the same fundamentals and skills as you — if not better.”

Louella Tomlinson garners most of the attention on the team — the 6-4 Australian has been WCC Player of the Month twice this season and is the most recent conference player of the week.

Smith does much of her scoring damage in transition, which helped her lead the WCC as a freshman with a .563 shooting percentage in conference games.

She has taken 17 3-point shots in her collegiate career, making six of them.

“My favorite thing to do is run the floor and get layups,” she said. “This year, I’ve gotten more into being on the wing a little bit more, but I mainly play the (power forward) position. I don’t really shoot (from outside) much.”

Smith, of course, is no longer a freshman getting a boost from her opponents’ lack of familiarity with her.

“The teams, especially in conference, know what I like to do,” she said. “They know that I like to run the floor, so they have someone stopping me so I have to find other ways to contribute to my team. It’s been a little more difficult this year for me, I think.”

Despite the extra attention, she is averaging 11.1 points and 5.9 rebounds this season, and is second in the WCC with a .607 shooting percentage.

Saint Mary’s opened conference play with a home sweep of San Francisco and Santa Clara, avenging last year’s season-ending upset loss to Santa Clara in the WCC tournament with an 83-55 victory Sunday. Smith had 12 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.

Surprising start

Smith was told to expect to redshirt her first year at Saint Mary’s, but she was determined to earn playing time from the beginning.

“Coming into school, I definitely didn’t think I was going to be starting, so I was pretty excited about that,” she said.

She made the most of it, appearing in all 30 games and starting 16 of them, averaging 9.6 points and 4.8 rebounds (10.6 and 5.5, respectively, in WCC games). Among her new experiences as a college basketball player was fouling out of a game — in just 16 minutes during a home win over Loyola Marymount.

“That was actually the first time I’ve ever fouled out of a game in my life,” she said. “I was just happy we still won.”

Gaels ‘triplets’

Saint Mary’s has three players on the roster named Smith, now that the Gaels have added sisters Jontelle and Jasmine Smith from Pinole, Calif.

Jontelle Smith is a two-time first team All-WCC player before taking a medical redshirt year after suffering an injury in last year’s season opener. Jasmine Smith is a sophomore transfer from Oregon State.

“It doesn’t cause confusion, because they’re sisters,” Ashlee Smith said. “People don’t confuse me with them. It’s just fun. A lot of people say ‘the Smith triplets’ or whatever.”

Honor

Smith credits better chemistry and leadership on this year’s Gaels for the team’s improvement over last season. Saint Mary’s played a challenging non-conference schedule that Smith said the team hopes will bolster its NCAA Tournament credentials should it not claim the WCC’s automatic bid by winning the conference tournament.

Helping the Gaels return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001 would be an honor — a word that holds plenty of meaning for her. Smith, who was born in Germany, has “Ehre” — German for honor — tattooed on her right wrist, above a cross.

“I got it when I came home during my freshman year,” Smith said. “I was born in Germany, so I kind of wanted something that represented me. I decided to get that.”

For now, ending Gonzaga’s reign in the WCC is the immediate goal.

“That’s the plan, and we all have confidence in our team that we can do that,” Smith said, and she is looking forward to “seeing what our team has the ability to do this year. I’m excited to be a part of it.”

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