The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/201975
Smith, now a junior guard, was named the Junior College National Championship Tournament MVP after leading Trinity Valley to the title. Smith, who has known Michigan assistant coach Chester Nichols on Newcomers Excelling the recruiting trail since she was a This time last year, after a two- promising eighth-grade star, immediyear stint at North Carolina that was ately jumped to Ann Arbor, and now plagued by a bout with mononucleo- she's poised to be one of the Wolversis and a string of unfortunate inju- ines' most crucial offensive weapons. "Shannon will probably be our gories, Shannon Smith found herself in the town of Athens, Texas, at Trinity to scorer this year," Barnes Arico said. Valley Community College, wonder- "We're trying to work on her defense ing whether she wanted to continue a bit, but she can score the basketball. She also has far more experience than pursuing basketball at all. our freshman." She's certainly glad she did. Luckily, those freshmen — point guard Siera Thompson, guard Danielle Williams and guard Paige Rakers — had the chance to wade in the shallow end before diving straight into the pool of collegiate basketball. It's especially important, because they will all be expected to be big contributors this year. The Wolverines took a team trip to Europe in August, where they played three games against Sophomore guard Madison Ristovski appeared in all 33 games off semi-professional the bench last year, and averaged 2.3 points and 0.9 rebounds in and amateur clubs. Not only did it 12.5 minutes per contest. photo by per kjeldsen give the players a that they are following the lead of last year's team, and they are working extremely hard. They are buying in to our culture and our expectations, and they have made tremendous strides."