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Pac-12 Player of the Week is Alanna Smith, Stanford

By David Yapkowitz

PALO ALTO, CA - JANUARY 04: Stanford Forward Alanna Smith (11) is defended by USC Forward Kayla Overbeck (1) during the women's basketball game between the USC Trojans and Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion on January 4, 2019 in Palo Alto, CA. (Photo by Cody Glenn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - JANUARY 04: Stanford Forward Alanna Smith (11) is defended by USC Forward Kayla Overbeck (1) during the women's basketball game between the USC Trojans and Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion on January 4, 2019 in Palo Alto, CA. (Photo by Cody Glenn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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A fruitful trip to Los Angeles.

Stanford’s Alanna Smith was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for games played last week. It is the third time this season that Smith has taken home the weekly award.

In the two games that Stanford played last week, a road sweep over UCLA and USC, Smith averaged 22.5 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting from the field, 33.3 percent from the three-point line, 12.5 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks.

She also reached the 1500 point plateau, the 16th player in Cardinal history to reach that mark.

In Stanford’s 65-51 win over UCLA, Smith put up 22 points on 52.9 percent shooting, 13 rebounds, and four blocked shots. She followed that up in their 69-67 win over USC with 23 points, 37.5 percent shooting from distance, 12 rebounds, and three blocked shots. She also hit the game-winning layup with three seconds left in the game.

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The senior forward has been the driving force behind Stanford’s strong season thus far. To date, she is averaging 19.7 points per game on 50.6 percent shooting from the field. Although she is a talented player in the post, she has range all the way out to three as evidenced by her 40.3 percent shooting from behind the arc where she takes almost six attempts per game.

She is only grabbing 8.0 rebounds per game but she is a legit double-double threat every single night. She’s also one of the best defensives players, especially in the interior, in the Pac-12 this season. She’s averaging 2.5 blocks per game and in an earlier win over Baylor, Smith’s interior defense on Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox were a big reason for the victory.

Smith has done enough this season to position herself to be a first round draft pick in this coming April’s WNBA draft.

Stanford will continue conference play this week on Friday at home against Arizona.

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