Forestview senior excited to end high school career at future college home

The North Carolina women’s basketball team doesn’t play at the Smith Center, but Lady Tar Heel recruit Shannon Smith still thinks it’ll be neat to play her final high school game on her future college campus.

“I hope I can bring it home at my new home,” said Smith, who leads Forestview into Saturday’s state championship game. “It’s going to be exciting. I’m happy it’s there.”

Smith and the Jaguars (26-2) will make their second straight state championship appearance when they face South Central (28-4) at 5 p.m. for the 3A state title.

Saturday’s game will take place at the arena that houses the North Carolina men’s team. Smith, a 5-foot-7 senior point guard, will play her collegiate home games just up campus at Carmichael Auditorium.

When Forestview lost in the state championship game last year at N.C. State, Smith knew her next shot would come in Chapel Hill. This was before she had committed to North Carolina, though.

A year later, she can’t think of a better way to conclude her high school career than to win a state title in Chapel Hill, although the place isn’t nearly as important as the outcome.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever wanted something in my life,” she said.

That’s what happens when you’re a competitive person — especially when you’re a competitive person who loses by a mere two points in a state title game. That’s what happened to the Jaguars last year at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum, where they came up short against Greensboro Dudley, 60-58.

Smith scored a game-high 31 points but shot only 12-for-37 (2-for-11 from 3-point range) and was responsible for 10 turnovers. She was so devastated that she lost sleep.

If she learned one thing from the loss, it’s that every play matters. That explains her focus all season in leading Forestview to its fourth straight conference title.

She’s averaging 23.1 points and 7.1 assists for the season and is shooting 42 percent from the arc. During the playoffs, she’s lifted her production to 30.8 points and 8.2 assists.

“She could average 30 or 35 points a game (all season) if she was selfish,” Forestview coach Ken Beaty said. “That’s why we win because these players aren’t selfish.”

Smith’s Forestview teams have gone 110-11 in four years, and her talent was visible from the start.

Charlotte Catholic coach Bobby Conrad’s teams have lost two playoff games against Forestview during Smith’s career: one when she was a freshman and hit the game-winning shot and again this season.

“She’s so much more aggressive,” Conrad said. “I think she passes the ball significantly better than she did in the past. I think she looks for chances to score. She looks for her teammates. The first game you could tell she had talent and could make some plays, but I don’t think she looked to do it as much. She’s tough and she knows it.”

Smith said she’s become a smarter player over the course of her varsity career. She also thinks she’s improved her jump shot and increased her work ethic.

“I’ll do anything to get it,” she said. “If that means I have to wake up at 6 in the morning and go work out with my dad, that’s what I have to do.”

Her dad, Kevin Smith, has taught her almost everything she knows about basketball. He played point guard alongside Magic Johnson at Michigan State, where he was later named captain and team MVP in 1981-82.

Before Shannon Smith embarks upon her own Division I basketball career, she has one more piece of business to attend to.

“I can’t imagine anybody who wants it more than me,” she said. “If they do, I want to see them.”

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.

Shannon Smith by the numbers

Height: 5-7

Season scoring average: 23.1

Season assist average: 7.1

3-point percentage: 42

Career wins: 110

Career points: 2,303 (Gaston County modern-era record)

Career assists: 872

Career highs: 42 points, 14 assists

Saturday's game:

Forestview (26-2) vs. South Central (28-4), 5 p.m., Smith Center, UNC Chapel Hill