SMITH NAMED HONORABLE MENTION NAIA ALL-AMERICA
For Immediate Release
March 22, 2007
University of St. Francis senior guard/forward Mike Smith (Shepard H.S./Chicago, IL) and freshman guard/forward Jacqie Storm (Sandburg H.S./Orland Park, IL) have been named to the Honorable Mention list on the 2006-07 NAIA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball All-America teams.
Smith, a two-time first-team all-Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference selection, has been named to the all-America squad for the first time. He led the Fighting Saints in scoring during each of his two years at St. Francis. He led the CCAC in scoring (19.3 points per game) as a junior one year ago and finished second in the conference this season with an average of 17.1 points per game. Smith also led USF in rebounding (6.0 per game) and his 57 three-point baskets were more than triple the amount of the second-leading three-point shooter on the Saints’ squad.
Storm, who also named the CCAC Freshman of the Year and was a first-team all-CCAC pick, led the Lady Saints and the CCAC in scoring with an average of 16.3 points per game. She established a USF record this season with 82 three-point field goals. She also broke the Saints’ single-game record with eight treys in one game, reaching that figure in a season-high 33-point effort in a 119-118 loss to Olivet Nazarene on Feb. 10 at the USF Recreation Center. She was named CCAC Player of the Week on three occasions this season and finished second in the coaches’ balloting for conference Player of the Year behind two-time winner Candis Jackson, a senior at league co-champion Saint Xavier and a first-tam all-America pick.
Head coach Pat Sullivan’s Fighting Saints finished the 2006-07 season with a 11-15 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the CCAC. USF, the CCAC tourney’s No. 4 seed, opened postseason play with an 81-65 win at home against No. 5 seed Indiana South Bend. USF was then eliminated by eventual CCAC champion and national semifinalist Robert Morris (104-68) in the tournament’s semifinals.
The Lady Saints, under the direction of head coach Frank Kaminsky, finished the season with an 18-14 overall record. USF placed third in the CCAC final standings and was eliminated in the semifinals of the CCAC Championship Tournament by regular-season league co-champion Olivet Nazarene.
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