Women's basketball player Kasey Smit earns All-American honor

Women's basketball player Kasey Smit earns All-American honor

Irvine Valley star women's basketball player Kasey Smit earned more honors for her exceptional 2017-18 season.

She was named a Women's Basketball Coaches Association Two-Year College All-American honorable mention selection.

She was one of 19 honorable mention selections and one of just four from California.

Smit, a 6-0 post player, wrapped up her sophomore season this year. She helped the Lasers to a share of the Orange Empire Conference title and the second state tournament appearance in program history.

She was named the OEC Most Valuable Player and also picked to the South Region All-State Team.

IVC finished the season with a record of 26-5 overall. The team went 13-1 in conference play.

The Lasers were ranked No. 10 in the final CCCSIA state poll of the regular season.

IVC won at Riverside, 82-79, in overtime on Feb. 15 to earn a part of the OEC title.

And Smit cemented her conference MVP honors with one of her best games of the season, finishing with an incredible 39 points and 23 rebounds in the win. She was 16 of 28 from the field and 4 of 7 from three-point range.

With the 23 rebounds, Smit moved into first place in IVC program history with 366 rebounds in a season. She ended the season with 408 rebounds and had 601 rebounds for her career at IVC.

She recorded the three-best rebounding games in Laser history this season, grabbing 24 rebounds against Southwestern and 23 rebounds against both Riverside and Saddleback.

Smit also became the leading scorer for a season with 593 points this past year. And she ranks third all-time in program history in points with 829.

Smit had games of 39 points and 34 points this season. Her 39 points against Riverside tied for second-best in IVC history.

She finished the year averaging 19.1 points, 13.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.2 steals and 2.1 blocks per game. She had 22 double-doubles on the year and was also shooting 48.0 percent from the floor.

And in conference action, Smit was even better, averaging 24.4 points, 14.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.1 blocks a game, while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range.

Smit was also named the CCCSIA female athlete of the month for January after finishing the month averaging 24.1 points, 14.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.9 blocks a game The Lasers went 9-0 in January.

Her first year at IVC came during the 2015-16 season where she was picked second-team all-conference and averaged 9.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. She helped Irvine Valley end with a record of 21-7 overall, finish second in the conference standings and reach the So. Cal. Regional Playoffs.

Smit signed and will play this coming season at NCAA Division II Cal Poly Pomona.

Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to the organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport.