Athlete of the Week | Jenna Smith a uniquely well-rounded post for Garfield

Jenna Smith has been indescribable at times.

Longtime Garfield cross country coach John Bennett took an early stab at describing Smith, calling her the 100-foot woman, a reference to her superb skill with the discus as well as a height that immediately proved tantalizing on the basketball court.

"He called me that one day and it stuck ever since and that's kind of where it came from," Smith said. "It might have had something to do with my discus throws, but I think once I stopped throwing, the name still stuck, mainly because of my height and how tall I am."

G-Men girls basketball coach Aaron Gilbert found himself raving about the senior's hands, allowing Smith to cleanly catch entry passes through a thicket of arms and turn them into layups.

"The only other person that I can think in recent years that had as good of hands would probably be Alicia Witte," Gilbert said. "I'd like to think it's coaching, but I don't think it is. I think it's just kind of the natural thing that either you have those soft hands or you don't."

Of course, maybe the most striking thing about Smith, the Record-Courier Athlete of the Week, is her ability, as a 6-0 post, to glide down the court in transition.

"For her size, she's the best girl I've ever seen running transition," Garfield senior guard Sarah Seaman said. "I love playing with her because she just gets up and down the floor so well."

Beyond allowing her to wreak havoc for the G-Men, that ability to pair solid post play with fast-break excellence helped pave Smith's path from Garrettsville to Marietta College.

"Her transition running is what has made her a college player," Gilbert said. "That's what's going to make her successful at the next level is she's a tough match-up because she runs the rim line as well as anybody."

On Monday night, Marietta had a coach in attendance as Smith delivered another doozy for Garfield, scoring the first seven points for either team, making her first five shots and ultimately finishing with 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field.

"It helped to have Marietta watching her tonight, too," Gilbert said. "I think that kind of gave her a little juice, but I keep reminding him I got her for one more year. I got her for the rest of this year, then you can have her for four."

Softball for one Smith, basketball for the other

Both Smith sisters played basketball and softball growing up.

The older one, Hannah, went on to play softball for the University at Buffalo.

The younger one, Jenna, decided to focus on the hardwood.

"We kind of both played both sports growing up," Smith said. "We both kind of went different routes, mainly because she ended up being better at softball and I ended up being better at basketball."

Still, while they focused on different sports, Hannah certainly influenced Jenna.

"I did [want to play college] a lot, and especially since my sister committed," Smith said. "I thought the experience was really cool, especially because I've seen her play, like I watched her play throughout her whole career."

There was a time last season when Smith wondered whether playing college basketball would mess with her academics too much.

She ultimately decided to give it a whirl.

"I sat down and thought about it for a few months, and I came to the conclusion that I did actually want to play 100 percent," Smith said. "It was always in my mind, I always wanted it, but I didn't know if it was the best choice, but now I feel like I'm more comfortable with being able to play a college sport while attending school."

Smith excels early in her high school career

That vision of playing college ball wasn't so hard to imagine given the way Smith excelled as a freshman, nearly averaging a double-double at 13.2 points and 8.3 rebounds.

Still, Smith said, it wasn't easy given that she really only knew then-sophomore Grace Mills among her fellow starters.

"I've been around Grace since middle school, since she was on the eighth-grade team and I was on the seventh-grade team, so we practiced together," Smith said. "It was kind of different playing with some of those older girls at first. I think it definitely took me like a few games to get used to it my freshman year."

As a sophomore, Smith raised her scoring (16.3) and rebounding (8.5) averages and earned all-state honors. As a junior, she raised her scoring (18.3) and rebounding (11.2) yet again, averaging a double-double, crossing the 1,000-point threshold and earning all-state again.

"I think everything just went a little smoother," Smith said. "I think my freshman and sophomore year were kind of just getting a feel for things, and then once junior year came, I think I just definitely showed improvement."

Meanwhile, Smith, who has mostly stayed at that same 6-0 height her entire high school career, garnered new experiences playing AAU, where she was no longer the tallest girl.

"I think going against bigger girls as often as she had to in AAU, I think that helped her develop some different moves," Gilbert said. "Because, yeah, she may be tall around us, but then when we get on that AAU circuit, she's going against 6-2 and you have to be crafty."

Smith has thus developed into a player who can score in myriad ways, whether it's with her back to the basket, slashing in from the elbows, draining a mid-range shot or getting out in transition.

"She just has a knack," Gilbert said. "She has a knack for finding the rim. She's had it for a while."

Perhaps, most impressive is the efficiency with which she has done it all, with a career field goal percentage of 56.

"A big part of me just taking smart shots is having confidence in my teammates because I know that they can shoot the ball as well," Smith said. "I know that they can hit it, specifically Sarah. She always knows where I'm at on the floor. Like we definitely have a really good connection when it comes to us passing to one another. Our bond on and off the floor kind of contributes to the way that we both take smart shots."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Athlete of the Week | Jenna Smith a uniquely well-rounded post