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Still, few schools had contacted her about basketball before Hatchell attended a game early in Smith's junior year. "I saw her jump center and pull down one rebound before I said, 'I'll take her!' " says Hatchell, whose Tar Heels had gone 1-13 in the ACC the previous season. Dr. Beth Miller, who oversaw the women’s basketball program in 1994, told goheels.com that the shot “remains one of the greatest game-winners in college sports history. Lawrence slung a pass to a wide-open Smith, who became the second No. 23 to hit a huge shot in a national championship game.
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Hatchell initially called for a lob to Crawley, but the Lady Techsters’ defensive setup led Lawrence to call a timeout. During the second timeout, Hatchell decided to go for the win instead of the tie. After Pam Thomas gave Louisiana Tech a two-point lead with 15.5 seconds left, UNC didn’t call a timeout and Sampson missed a driving 12-foot jumper. After a scramble, a held ball was called with 0.7 of a second left, and fortunately for the Tar Heels, they had the possession arrow.
UNC, Elon's Charlotte Smith says women need opportunity, exposure - The Fayetteville Observer
UNC, Elon's Charlotte Smith says women need opportunity, exposure.
Posted: Thu, 23 Jun 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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A respect for her elders and a strong faith in God were at the heart of Smith's upbringing in Shelby, where she and her three brothers were raised in the embrace of a large extended family. She helped her grandmother Ida learn to read, and she sang in the choir and played keyboards by ear in the New Life Christian Center, where her father, Ulysses, preached on Sundays. "If her parents are supposed to be in the stands for a game and are late, Charlotte isn't worth a darn until they get there."
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Though Smith has evinced some newfound confidence before the public, the press still has to pry comments about her own accomplishments out of her. It's only through her friends that one learns that she has a beautiful singing voice and likes to sit down at the piano in empty hotel lobbies to pick out gospel tunes for her teammates. But she still won't entertain the idea of singing the national anthem at a home game; indeed, she scoffs at the mere suggestion. "I knew if anybody was going to make that shot, Charlotte would," says Thompson, who watched the game with his family in Charlotte, N.C., and started dancing around the house when the shot went in.
College career
Another interesting sidelight is that Hatchell was an assistant coach for the 1988 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team which won the gold medal at the Games in Seoul, Korea. The ball slithered through the net for Smith’s only 3-pointer of the season, UNC won 60–59, and the Tar Heels (33–2) were national champions on a memorable Sunday afternoon that fans, players and coaches will never forget.
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However, she is better known for her lengthy and successful career at North Carolina State. Charlotte Smith (born August 23, 1973) is a forward for the Charlotte Sting. In the fall of 1996, the American Basketball League (ABL) was formed as the first independent professional basketball league for women in the U.S. "Women's basketball was not highly televised, so it was hard to see role models," Smith said in a phone interview this week after a workout at Elon, where she coaches now. "I didn't have any female role models to look up to with regard to having an opportunity to play professionally. So, as a little girl, I always thought that I would play in the NBA and never imagined there being a chance for a WNBA. She graduated from Shelby High, and grew up watching her uncle, David Thompson, become one of the best players in the country in his time at NC State.
Charlotte Smith has already become Elon University’s all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in just 12 seasons at the helm there, but she joins several other outstanding women’s coaches who are enshrined in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. “When she said that I was gonna take the shot, my heart really sank because it’s a lot of pressure — national championship game, everything hanging in the balance off of a shot,” said Smith, admitting that she’d never been more nervous in a game. Following the ABL's cessation of operations in 1999, Smith participated in the 1999 WNBA Draft, where the Charlotte Sting chose her with the 33rd overall pick. During offseasons, she interned with the Sting's front office, worked with US Sport Management, Inc., played a second winter season in Italy in 1999–2000, and served as an UNC women's basketball assistant coach for several seasons.
Players Mentioned
He looked dapper for his first appearance in a mint green suit and shirt, but donned a blonde pompadour wig and “Death Rock” T-shirt for a second appearance as Beavis with Day’s buck-toothed Butt-Head. As a freshman at Shelby High, Smith won the state championship in the mile while wearing canvas slip-on sneakers because they were more comfortable than her track shoes. Switching to the 400 the next year only made her victories more dramatic. Her parents recall a two-mile relay in which Shelby High's opponent had a half-lap lead when Charlotte got the baton. With her long legs churning, she caught her foe on the last curve and won. "That's where I think I help my players, talking about my struggles as a player and how you overcome those things," Smith said.
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He would go on to average a then career-high 18.1 points a game in 80 starts in the 1995–96 season, forming a formidable backcourt one-two punch with Mookie Blaylock. The team under head coach Lenny Wilkens would win 46 games and defeat the Indiana Pacers in the first round in 5 games. The next round, while facing the Orlando Magic, Smith led all scorers in a Game 4 win with 35 points, before Atlanta lost the series 4 games to 1.[4] Smith averaged 21.7 points in 10 playoff games that postseason.
"When I'm in a silly mood," says junior guard Tonya Cooper, "I can always count on Charlotte to be silly with me." "After we tied up the ball, I remember so vividly looking up at the clock, and my heart sank," Smith said. "I was thinking, 'What can you do in seven-tenths of a second?' I felt like we had lost the game. I felt this deep sense of grief overcome me." And Smith remains close with her mentor, North Carolina's Sylvia Hatchell, who is approaching her 1,000th career win.
Charlotte Smith (born August 23, 1973)[1] is a retired American professional women's basketball player for the Charlotte Sting, Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever in the WNBA, and for the Colorado Xplosion and San Jose Lasers in the ABL. She is currently the women's basketball head coach at Elon University. Thompson also told her that repeating as NCAA champion will be twice as hard as winning the first time. "Everyone will be gunning for you," said Thompson, whose Wolfpack failed to make the tournament as defending champions his senior year.
Smith was positioned near inbounds passer Stephanie Lawrence to the left of the lane. Three Louisiana Tech players converged on Sampson, and Smith dashed to the right wing and was wide open. With one legendary shot, Charlotte Smith cemented her spot in Carolina women’s basketball history, but not without some anxious moments and confusion coming out of the huddle. After her collegiate eligibility ended in 1995, Smith joined a professional basketball club in Italy. She was named Most Valuable Player of the Italian league's All-Star game for the 1995–1996 season.
Smith was selected fifth overall in the 1991 NBA draft by the Miami Heat, a young expansion team which featured other young players such as Glen Rice, Rony Seikaly and Brian Shaw. Smith played in 61 games in his rookie season, starting in 59 with averages of 12 points a game and 4.6 assists. The young team made the playoffs to face the top seeded defending champion Chicago Bulls, who swept the Heat in 3 games in the first round. Injuries limited Smith to 48 games in the 1992–93 season, but he increased his scoring average to 16 points a game. The following 2002–03 season would mark Smith's final year in San Antonio, while second-year point guard Tony Parker blossomed into the team's second leading scorer. The same was the case for guard Stephen Jackson who consequently came to serve as the team's main starting shooting guard, with Smith starting in just 18 games for the season as a result of injuries limiting him to just 58 total games.
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