Deanna Smith
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Deanna Smith (born 24 December 1980) is an Australian former professional
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player. She is best known for her time spent in the
Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...
(WNBL), but has also spent time in England, Portugal, Russia and Italy. She has also played
wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...
with the
Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League The Australia Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) is a women's semi-professional wheelchair basketball league in Australia. Teams The league currently has six teams: Sydney University Flames The Sydney University Flames, ...
(WNWBL). She was the first player to play in both the WNBL and WNWBL.


Career

Emerging with the
Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...
(AIS) in the late 1990s, winning the 1999
Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...
(WNBL) championship alongside the likes of Lauren Jackson and
Penny Taylor Penelope Jane Taylor (born 24 May 1981) is an Australian retired professional basketball player and assistant coach. During her 19-year career, Taylor spent the most time with the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, where she won three championships. ...
, Smith came into her own at the Adelaide Lightning. It was in South Australia where she thrived under the added responsibility, producing impressive seasons before making the move west to join the Perth Lynx in 2005. Here, Smith joined the WNBL elite, posting career-high numbers (21.7 ppg) and earning selection to the Australian Opals. Smith got her first taste of overseas basketball in 2004 with the Manchester Mystics in the British League before returning to Europe in 2006, joining Portuguese team CAB Madeira – winning the league title in her first season. Smith returned to the WNBL and the Lynx in 2008, earning her second All-Star Five honour before repeating the dose in the 2009–10 season at the Sydney Uni Flames. However, injuries began to tether her career in later years, as she was sidelined for the entire 2010–11 campaign. She had another impressive season at the Bendigo Spirit in 2011–12, but injury again ravaged Smith in 2012–13 with the
West Coast Waves The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, ...
, restricting her to just six games after setting the competition alight, winning the MVP at the 2012 WNBL Pre-Season Tournament. Having managed only half-a-dozen games in 2012–13 due to a foot fracture, Smith made just three appearances in 2013–14 before suffering a cartilage tear in her knee. She came back strong in 2014–15, averaging 11.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 20 games for a dismal Waves team that won just four games during the season. Smith has also played for multiple state league teams over her career. She won the Halls Medal for the
best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...
player in the Central ABL on two occasions; in 2003 and 2004 playing for
South Adelaide The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University StadiumState Basketball League NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...
for the
Perry Lakes Hawks Perry Lakes Hawks is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Perry Lakes Basketball Association (PLBA), the major administrative basketball org ...
and
Cockburn Cougars Cockburn Cougars is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Cockburn Basketball Association (CBA), the major administrative basketball organis ...
, and in the
South East Australian Basketball League The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was an Australian semi-professional basketball league. The league comprised both a men's and women's competition and was run by the country's governing body, Basketball Australia. The league wa ...
(SEABL) for the
Geelong Supercats Geelong Supercats is a NBL1 South club based in Geelong, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is affiliated with Basketball Geelong and Geelong United Basketball. The Supercats play their home gam ...
. In November 2016, Smith was appointed head coach of the
Perry Lakes Hawks Perry Lakes Hawks is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Perry Lakes Basketball Association (PLBA), the major administrative basketball org ...
women's team for the 2017 SBL season. Four months later, she announced her retirement from playing basketball. Her coaching career could not have possibly started any better with the Lady Hawks winning the opening eight games of the season.'Doccy' adjusting well to life as a coach after glittering career
/ref> Smith guided the Lady Hawks to the minor premiership with a 20–2 record before going on to guide them to the WSBL Grand Final, marking the team's first appearance in the championship decider since 2010 as they chased a first title since 2008. They went on to defeat the
Mandurah Magic Mandurah Magic is an NBL1 West club based in Mandurah, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Mandurah Basketball Association (MBA), the major administrative basketball organi ...
59–48 in the grand final to win their seventh WSBL Championship. She parted ways with the Hawks in October 2021.


Wheelchair basketball

Smith played
wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...
in the
Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League The Australia Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) is a women's semi-professional wheelchair basketball league in Australia. Teams The league currently has six teams: Sydney University Flames The Sydney University Flames, ...
(WNWBL) with the Be Active Western Stars in 2013, and the Red Dust Lady Heelers in 2017. Each WNWBL team is permitted to field a limited number of able-bodied players. She was the first player to play in both the WNBL and WNWBL.


Personal life

Smith's partner is
Stephen Black Stephen Black (born 5 April 1980) is an Australian former professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the National Basketball League (NBL). He is the son of Alan Black. Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Black attended the Australian ...
, a former NBL and SBL star in his own right and the former head coach of the
Willetton Tigers Willetton Tigers is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Willetton Basketball Association (WBA), the major administrative basketball organ ...
in the Men's SBL.


References


External links


WNBL player profileOpals player profileFIBA player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Deanna 1980 births Living people Australian women's basketball players Adelaide Lightning players Bendigo Spirit players Canberra Capitals players Guards (basketball) Sportspeople from Bendigo Perth Lynx players Sydney Uni Flames players