MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Four years ago, Jaclyn Smith took to the court for Trinity Christian in the single-A state tournament. Just a freshman, Smith stepped in for then-senior Emily Saurborn who tore her ACL in regionals.
In that game, she had 13 points, although the then-No. 7 Warriors would fall to No. 2 Wheeling Central.
Despite that, and despite scoring 13 against one of the perennial state powers, Smith’s reflection was rather on the learning experience she had with the upperclassmen, and how much of a contrast her senior season has been.
She also sees plenty of similarities, especially following Thursday’s loss to Frankfort.
“We have seven freshmen,” Smith said. “They went from a middle school game pace which is dribbling the ball up and calling out a play to running transition and sprinting the whole game. Yeah, we might have lost [to Frankfort] by 20, but we can hang with Frankfort; they’re beatable.
“I’m so thankful that my freshman and sophomore year I had Emily Saurborn, Reagan [Sharp], Kaylie [Laskody], Rachel [Rosen], all those girls to be leaders and show me how hard I actually had to play. I was reminded of that [against Frankfort]. There were different girls on the court but it still felt like I was a sophomore or freshman [again].”
Smith, the only senior, has had a less than ideal final season. She started the already shortened year to join the 1,000-point club, knowing she’d have to average between 15-20 points a game. It wasn’t impossible, those were numbers she was hitting last year. A midseason quarantine, though, reduced the Warriors’ schedule by seven games, effectively destroying any chance Smith had to reach that goal. Yet, with one door closing another opens, and Smith was able to find a new goal.
“I’ve been able to see the light in this darkness,” she said. “While, yeah, I’m probably not going to get my 1,000 points, there’s been so many other wonderful things to come out of this season. Once I realized that’s not a realistic goal anymore, [coach Mike] Baldy challenged me to become more of a rebounder, be the team leader for rebounds, and it’s been nice to try and get back to my roots. My freshman and sophomore year, I had to play a lot of defense because I wasn’t the best player offensively. Then last year I had to be an offensive player because we had just lost six seniors. So it’s been nice this year, now that I realize I don’t have to score 40 points a game, I’ve been able to get back to the defensive side. It’s nice to remember why I love basketball.”
Smith has been crucial in the starting lineup. She leads the team with 9.1 points per game and 71% shooting at the free throw line. She further averages 2.3 assists per game and 1.3 steals per game. While beneficial throughout the regular season and likely will be in the postseason, Smith doesn’t care about the individual statistics as much as how the team is performing. She hopes to instill this mindset, just as it was for her years ago.
“This year I struggled with my game, offensively, and I’ve been reflecting on last year like, how can I get back my mentality from last year,” she said. “I think it’s my attitude. You can ask my mom, I have one of the worst attitudes, and you can see it on my face when I’m playing bad. I’m really trying to improve that. I hope I can be an example to them that you are going to have bad games. I’ve had multiple bad games, and some of those we still won. To some people, it matters, but to this Trinity team it does not; when we’re working as a team we’re unstoppable.”
She also hopes her encouragement in practice to speak up and be vocal leaders will hold, too. She recalled being afraid to communicate when she was younger, but with so many freshmen she knew they’d need to know it’s OK to talk.
“This year being the only senior I can’t be the only one yelling and cheering at practice,” she said. “I’ve gotten some of the freshmen – I’m close with a lot of them because I’ve known them since they were little – to get up and get talking. I don’t yell at them, but encourage them and I think it’s pushed some of them to be leaders in their own way.”
On a much more personal level, one of those freshmen is her sister, Paige. A standout player already, Jaclyn sees a lot of her defensive prowess in her sister.
“I see a lot of me in her,” she said. “I know she had her breakout game at Moorefield, she had 13 points – I remember my breakout game was freshman year at Madonna and I had 11 points – it wasn’t a huge success, but it was a huge break offensively because she’s a defensive player. She gets down on herself a lot because she sees Maggie [Mercure] scoring, me scoring, and a lot of people look at points. I say, ‘OK, Paige, look at the stats.’ Baldy reads her the stats almost every week; she leads in almost every category except points and that’s how I was as a freshman.”
But, like most new adventures with a sibling, there are learning curves for both. In Jaclyn and Paige’s case, it was learning how to play together.
“As the season’s progressed, it’s gotten a lot better,” she said. “I’ve never played with her in a full-paced game, and we weren’t on the same page [at the beginning of the season]. As the season has gone on, I and Paige have more slowly gotten on the same page. It’s so fun to share each others’ success.”
No matter what happens in the postseason, whether the Warriors fall in sectionals or win the state title, Smith hopes to finish out on the right note: meet her goal to lead the team in rebounds, take smart shots and be a good leader for a group of girls who haven’t experienced playoffs yet.
The main question for Smith was, how will you sum up this final stanza? Playing sanctioned sports isn’t in her future, outside of intramural basketball and volleyball, as she embarks for Penn State to begin college in the Fall. And as bad as the pandemic has been for athletes, it’s helped Smith gain a new outlook on life.
“This season was challenging, but it was a good challenge. I don’t think I’d be the person I am today if I hadn’t gone through the ups and downs of this season,” she said. “Yeah, it helped me become a better basketball player but I think it helped me get a better outlook on life. Going into college, my mom always tells me you’re not going to always deal with good people and you’ll have bad days … we had bad days this season. One of those bad days was when we found out we’d be quarantining and personally I had some bad stuff happen that day. I felt like I didn’t want to do anything anymore, but I woke up the next morning, Paige and I went to the gym and shot because there’s nothing we could have done to make a difference, so we said why not make a difference in ourselves? Realizing that when I go off to college and when I’m not inside the walls of Trinity – I’ve been inside the walls of Trinity since I was 4 – it’s going to be a real shock. But because of this season, I’ll be more prepared to go into college.
“I would also like to thank my coaches and teammates for making my senior year so memorable and for always pushing me to be the best; my parents and family for always supporting and helping me fulfill my dreams. And lastly, I would like to give all the glory to God because He is the reason that I have been blessed with so many amazing things that I would not have if it wasn’t for Him.”
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