TRINITY HOOPS: Smith tops 1,000 points this week

Trinity’s Emma Kate Smith moved into elite company when she scored her 1,000th point recently. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

When Emma Kate Smith scored her 999th career point on Friday night at St. James, there was no hiding the fact that a milestone would be achieved in Trinity’s game with Bullock County High on Monday night.

“I didn’t even know about it until after the game on Friday,” she said, “so this whole weekend I was thinking about it. Today, we were talking about it and Dad told me to play it like any other game and it’ll come.”

Her dad, Trinity coach Blake Smith, admitted his star sophomore appeared a bit out of character in the moments leading up to Monday’s game.

“She was a little nervous,” he said, repeating her question, ‘What if I don’t score?’”

Emma Kate took care of that in the first seconds of the contest, appropriately nailing a 3-pointer to become only the eighth player in Trinity girls’ basketball history to top the 1,000-point career mark. At her current pace, she’ll likely move into the top five by the end of the season with two full seasons remaining to catch Julie Harrington (1984-90), who leads the group with 2,170 points.

Emma Kate currently has 1,016 points after scoring 17 in a rout of the winless Hornets. Trinity (6-0) led 27-7 at the end of the first quarter and 41-11 at the half as the sophomore shooter played only a few moments of the second half.

Blake Smith, meanwhile, liked the physical approach of his players. 

“They have some tough girls,” he said, “and that hasn’t always been our M.O. We’re kind of finesse and we’re really working on our grit, on being more hard-nosed. That’s our goal.”

Emma Kate said the players were reminded on several occasions to maintain an aggressive demeanor on the court.

“We’re used to other people pushing us around,” she said, “so this year we’ve really been focusing on us being the aggressive ones and us taking the first punch. Even after we were up big, after a timeout, Dad was saying, ‘Just because you’re up by 20 doesn’t mean you should let up. You should still be the aggressive ones. Keep taking it to them.’”

That may have to apply to Emma Kate as well. Despite her achievement on Monday, she was reminded her younger sister Maddie, an eighth grader, also had 17 points in her quest to join the 1,000-point club.

“She’s definitely coming after me,” Emma Kate said. “I’m so happy about making it to 1,000, but I know I’ve got to keep pushing because she’s going to be right behind me and she is not going to slow down. Now that she sees what I have, she’s like, ‘Now I have to get that.’ So I have to keep pushing until I graduate because she’s going to be pushing me the whole time.”  

Mary Alice Sasser added 11 points and Mary Davis Bricken had 10 for the Wildcats, who travel to Brew Tech tonight and play host to Alabama Christian on Friday.

TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN’S 1,000-POINT CLUB

Julie Harrington (1984-90) ----------- 2,170 

Laurel Philpot (1986-88) ------------- 1,632 

Janie Hampton (2011-14) -------------1,393      

Jan Shackelford (1977-82) ------------1,283 

Corinne Graddick (1993-97) ----------1,275 

Caroline Wilder (2009-12) ------------1,114 

Stevi Sport (2007-10) ------------------1,098 

Emma Kate Smith (2018-present) --- 1,016