Alexandra Leigh LaForce (born December 11, 1988) is an American journalist, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. She is a reporter for Turner Sports, covering the '' NBA on TNT''. She was previously the lead reporter for SEC college football games, a courtside reporter for

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

games, and the host of ''We Need to Talk'' on the

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known ...

. LaForce also worked as a broadcast sports anchor and reporter for the

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...

, FOX affiliate WJW. She won a 2011

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for anchoring FOX 8's '' Friday Night Touchdown'' high school football show. She was

Miss Teen USA Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant formerly run, since 1983, by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19. Unlike its sister pageants Miss Universe, which currently broadcasts on Fox and Miss USA, this pageant is webcast on th ...

in 2005, and played college basketball at

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subse ...

Early life and education

LaForce is from Vermilion, Ohio. She attended

and played five games her freshman year under head coach

Semeka Randall Semeka Chantay Randall-Lay (born February 7, 1979, in Cleveland, Ohio) is the current head coach for the Winthrop Eagles women's basketball team. She is also a former collegiate and professional basketball player. She was hired as recruiting co ...

as a guard on the

Bobcats The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the I ...

' women's basketball team.

Career

Pageantry

LaForce began her career in pageantry after winning the

Miss Ohio Teen USA The Miss Ohio Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Ohio in the Miss Teen USA pageant and the name of the title held by that winner. Most recently the pageant has been held in Springfield, Oh ...

2005 title in September 2004, in her first attempt at the title. She went on to represent Ohio in the Miss Teen USA 2005 pageant held in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the county seat, parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, E ...

, on August 8, 2005. LaForce competed in the evening gown, swimsuit and final interview competitions, and was crowned Miss Teen USA 2005 by her predecessor

Shelley Hennig Shelley Catherine Hennig (born January 2, 1987) is an American actress and model. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Teen Choice Award and two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. Prior to pursuing an acting career, Hennig compet ...

Miss Teen USA 2004 Miss Teen USA 2004, the 22nd Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, California, Palm Springs on August 6, 2004. At the conclusion of the final competition, Miss Louisiana Teen USA Shelley Henn ...

from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

. Her mother Lesa LaForce (née Rummell) was Miss Ohio USA 1977. Her winnings included a one-year modeling contract with Trump Modeling Management and a scholarship to the

School for Film and Television The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts (NYCDA) is a private acting college in New York City. Originally conceived for the purpose of training actors for film and television acting, in 2009 the conservatory gained accreditation to offer Asso ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She also earned a guest appearance in the NBC

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and ...

''. LaForce made appearances throughout the United States, promoting causes such as drug and alcohol awareness, as well as continuing to attend high school in Ohio.

Sportscasting

Bradley Beal, Allie LaForce (34162450551)

LaForce worked as a sideline reporter for

Sportstime Ohio Bally Sports Great Lakes is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel, which is a sister network to Bally Sports Ohio, broadcasts statewide coverage of professiona ...

during the 2010

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the t ...

's football season, the 2011 MAC men's basketball tournament, and the 2011 OHSAA basketball championships. After college, she signed with Cleveland's Fox affiliate, WJW channel 8, as a sports anchor and reporter. In April 2014, it was announced that LaForce would replace Tracy Wolfson as the sideline reporter for the '' SEC on CBS''. LaForce worked as a sideline reporter for

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regula ...

during the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

. In June 2018, it was reported that LaForce would be leaving CBS Sports after the two sides could not come to terms on a new deal. LaForce still makes occasional appearances on CBS, due to her March Madness reporting role. LaForce later signed a deal with Turner Sports to continue her role as a sideline reporter for the NBA on TNT and the NCAA Tournament. In 2022, LaForce works as a field-level reporter for ''MLB on TBS Tuesday Night''.

Personal life

LaForce is married to MLB relief pitcher Joe Smith.

References

External links

*
Allie LaForce's Ohio Women's Basketball Profile

Allie LaForce Walks Red Carpet at Miss USA 2014
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laforce, Allie Living people 1988 births American beauty pageant winners American sports journalists Beauty pageant contestants from Ohio College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers 2005 beauty pageant contestants 21st-century Miss Teen USA delegates Miss Teen USA winners National Football League announcers Ohio Bobcats women's basketball players People from Vermilion, Ohio National Basketball Association broadcasters High school basketball announcers in the United States Baseball players' wives and girlfriends