Yes, Yes, Annette : Tempo Is Slower, but Texas Basketball Star Dancing Again

Two years ago, Annette Smith of Texas was All-Everything, averaging 25 points per game for the nation’s top-ranked women’s college basketball team.

It was pretty swell for a while, but in stories like these there’s always a Then . As in: Then her world caved in. One day in practice she landed so hard that she cracked a bone in her left leg, which resulted in extensive cartilage and ligament damage. Then it was, Annette, you’ll play basketball again . . . when they invent a reliable leg transplant.

Stories like these, at least if they’re on the Movie of the Week, often have an uplifting ending: Dramatic Comeback, National Championship, Olympics, Happily Ever After. But this was no movie.

In real life, Annette Smith of the University of Texas spent five hours under the knife while surgeons reconstructed her left knee. She was on crutches for five months and in rehabilitative therapy for nearly a year and a half.

Smith’s doctor, Jerry Julian, suggested that if she really were interested in walking normally again, she should think about giving up on her comeback in basketball.

Smith, who couldn’t take a hike, told the doctor to take one instead.

“He was looking after my health,” Smith told the Austin American-Statesman. “He wanted to make sure that I could walk again. But I enjoy the game and I wanted to give it a try.”

That’s the story: Smith is trying. She hasn’t bounced back miraculously from a world of hurt, but she’s playing basketball again. For Smith, that’s enough of a happy ending.

“There’s nothing wrong with her heart,” Texas Coach Jody Conradt said. “She has worked so hard. Annette literally loves to play the game. When she walks on court, she exudes enthusiasm. It’s contagious.”

Conradt hopes her team will catch it, as the No. 1-ranked Lady Longhorns host the No. 5 Trojans tonight in Texas’ Frank Erwin Center.

The game has attracted a well-to-do sponsor--McDonald’s, which has spent $20,000 promoting it--and as many as 12,000 spectators are expected.

For the Lady Longhorns, Smith’s status will be a key.

“Smith is, hands down, the quickest 5-11 post player in the country,” USC Coach Linda Sharp said. “Her injury has not impaired her speed and agility.”

Sharp may be saying that for the benefit of her players, lest they take Smith lightly. In truth, Smith does not have the quickness and agility she had two years ago. After only four games this season, she is still feeling her way.

Last weekend in a tournament at home, Smith--who averaged 25 points a game before surgery--scored only 12 points against Western Michigan and none against Northeast Louisiana.

“I can’t get up and down the floor as fast as I used to,” Smith said. “But I think I can make up for that in other ways.”

One of those ways is defense. Smith held Cheryl Miller to “only” 21 points when the teams met two years ago at Austin. USC came into that game undefeated and top-ranked, but Texas won, 77-68. The Lady Longhorns went on to finish 32-2 and No. 1 in the regular-season polls.

Last season, Texas lost to USC at Los Angeles, 73-71, on a last-second basket. It was a similar prayer shot, this time in the Mideast Regional championship against Western Kentucky, that gave the Lady Toppers a 92-90 win and kept Texas out of the Final Four again.

The Lady Longhorns finished the regular season at 28-3 and ranked No. 1, but they kept intact their record of never advancing to the Final Four.

“I’m sure we all remember the USC game last year,” Conradt said. “Just as I’m sure their players remembered our win the year before. Please tell them it’s our turn to win.”

It wouldn’t do any good. USC, too, has a long memory, especially when it comes to last season, when the win over Texas was one of the few highlights. And despite their wins by wide margins this season, the Trojans (6-0) have played sloppily at times and have yet to meet a Top 20 team.

Both teams utilize similar offensive and defensive styles of play. Both USC and Texas will put on a full-court pressure defense and hope to create turnovers. Both teams like to run and use overall team quickness on the fast break.

“A lot of people think Texas and USC are the two fastest teams in the country,” Sharp said. “Both teams have similar styles of play and are two of the best conditioned teams.”

That conditioning may become a factor, especially for the Trojans. Texas is, without a doubt, the team with the most depth in the country. The Lady Longhorns put 11 players in every game, while the Trojans can go with nine. When Texas players become fatigued, its bench is nearly on par with its starters.

That’s true with one exception; USC can go with two or three reliable point guards after starter Rhonda Windham. Texas relies heavily on All-American Kamie Ethridge.