Just a few months ago, “Brooke with the hook” was dominating the court in the regional semifinal of the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament. Redshirt senior center Brooke Smith was having an epic night, scoring a career-high 35 points against Oklahoma, and in the process toppling the Sooners’ star player: then-freshman center Courtney Paris.

Enlarge
#gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/6526
Alvin Chow

Smith led the Cardinal with 7.5 rebounds per game.

One game later, the Cardinal were saw their Final Four dreams come to an end in the final seconds of a 62-59 loss to Louisiana State. This season, Smith is looking finish out her career at the NCAA championship game.

“That’s definitely the goal of the team this year: to go to the Final Four and the national championship,” Smith said. “We’ve been so close the past couple years, and we’re really hoping to break through. I think we have the pieces of the puzzle — we just need to put them together.”

The pieces of Smith’s personal puzzle have been coming together for five years now. She came to Stanford as a transfer from Duke, where she averaged 3.4 points and 2.5 rebounds off the bench in 25 appearances. After redshirting for the 2003-04 season, Smith was ready to become a prominent force on the Cardinal.

“I feel like I’ve grown up a lot since [my time at Duke], and I’ve gotten a lot more confident in my game and my abilities,” she said.

Smith made her presence known immediately in her second year at Stanford, averaging 13.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Along with 44 blocks, Smith earned her way to first-team All-Pac-10 honors at the end of the season.

And last year, Smith started every game for the Cardinal, averaging 17.2 points per game and 7.5 rebounds while she averaged less than 31 minutes each game. She also crossed the 1,000-point mark with 584 for the season, and had nine double-doubles and 47 blocks. The stats earned her a Kodak/WBCS All-America honorable mention, as well as an All-Pac-10 selection for the season and conference tournament.

“I’ve gotten a lot better by playing for [head coach Tara VanDerveer] — learning the system and getting the chance to play with all these fabulous players here at Stanford — it’s all helped me so much,” Smith said.

Along with her personal success, Smith has improved her teammates better as a leader for Stanford. Last year, she stepped into the leadership role along with then-sophomore guard Candice Wiggins. Having lost five graduates, the team was looking toward its star players to compensate for it. And again this year, as Smith nears her own graduation, she makes sure to look back on incoming and developing players like she herself was a few years ago.

“I’ve been trying to teach them, help them get comfortable with the system — just be there for them, really,” she said.

Smith finds leading by example equally important, and is constantly working on her individual game to make the team better overall. Known for her signature hook shot, Smith said that she is honing her other skills this year, all for the sake of the team.

“I’ve been trying to expand my game offensively, become more versatile and also really work on my rebounding and defense because those are two things I really need to improve for this team to be successful,” she said.

VanDerveer agrees that Smith has developed as a player, and immediately in this past weekend’s exhibition games, she stepped up with 28 points in 23 minutes against Chico State, and 19 points against Love & Basketball.

“Brooke has really expanded her game and versatility, and worked hard defensively,” VanDerveer said.

Outside of improving as a player, though, Smith has her sights on ending the season on a good note, both for the team and herself.

“I think as a team, we all want to enjoy the whole year,” she said. “It’s my last year, so I want to enjoy every day, every practice and every game, and not have any regrets about it. Personally, I’d like to do whatever it takes to help my team win.”