THE COLLEGES : Smith Makes Mark With Fresh Start for Huskies

Safety Tommie Smith of the University of Washington football team has belied the notion that freshmen should be neither seen nor heard.

The former Antelope Valley High standout was one of only three true freshmen to letter for the Huskies this season, and Smith concluded his first campaign by making the first interception of his collegiate career in the fourth quarter of Washington’s 34-7 win over Florida in last Saturday’s Freedom Bowl at Anaheim Stadium.

The game capped a season of change for Smith, who reported to the Huskies as a strong safety, but was moved to tailback when fall camp opened. A cartilage tear in his left knee and subsequent arthroscopic surgery kept Smith out of action until the fifth game of the season.

“When I got hurt, it gave me the time to get mentally ready to play,” Smith said. “I was laid back when I first came in. The time off helped me get my mind straight and know what to expect when I got back.”

When Smith returned, injuries had thinned Washington at strong safety, and he was moved back to that position.

His collegiate debut proved to be a memorable one as he blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown against USC at the Coliseum. In all, Smith played in seven games, almost exclusively on special teams, making eight tackles.

“As long as I’m playing, I’m happy,” said Smith, who led Antelope Valley to a 28-22 victory over Canyon in the 1988 Southern Section Division II title game. “I’m not picky about where I play.”

Greener pastures: Brian Greenfield of the University of Pittsburgh, a former standout at Notre Dame High, was the 17th-ranked punter at the NCAA Division I level, averaging 41.7 yards a punt on 54 attempts.

In Pitt’s second game, against Boston College, he had a punt of 66 yards, and in the Panthers’ victory over Texas A&M; in the John Hancock Bowl last week, the junior averaged 42.4 yards for five punts, including a 54-yarder.

Greenfield, a converted soccer player, led the nation’s junior college kickers with a 45.9 average at Glendale in 1988.

Making their mark: Adonis Jordan of Kansas and Kenny Hicks of Stanford were All-Valley basketball selections at Cleveland and Notre Dame highs last year, but they never met on the court until last Saturday, when the Jayhawks defeated the Cardinal, 83-61, for the championship of the Kansas tournament.

Though neither of them have played starring roles, Jordan and Hicks are getting playing time in their first collegiate seasons.

Jordan, who averaged 18.5 points a game at Cleveland, is averaging 4.1 points and 2.7 assists, while playing 13 minutes a game for the second-ranked Jayhawks, who were 13-0 heading into Thursday night’s game at Wichita State.

Hicks, who averaged 16 points in high school, is playing 10 minutes a game and averaging 2.6 points for Stanford (8-1).

Warming trend: Kris Brodowski of Cal State Northridge didn’t exactly scorch the nets, but his three-for-five shooting performance against Biola on Wednesday might have signaled the end of his shooting slump.

Brodowski had made two of 25 shots from the field in the Matadors’ previous four games.

The 6-foot-6 senior missed all nine of his shots against Cal State Hayward, all four shots against Cal State Fullerton, was two for 10 against UC Davis, and zero for two against Sacramento State.

Numbers game: With four seconds left in the semifinal basketball game of the Cougar Holiday Classic on Dec. 28, the scoreboard read: Utah Valley 92, Canyons 89.

Canyons had the ball beneath its own basket and appeared to have a chance to tie the score.

But the official scorer had Utah Valley leading, 92-88, and a Provo radio station had the Wolverines ahead, 93-88.

Both coaches and officials conversed at the scorer’s table to discuss the discrepancy, but the 92-89 score was allowed to stand . . . for the moment.

Canyons, however, was unable to get off a three-point shot and time expired.

Nevertheless, the official score will go in the record books as 92-88.

“That’s what we’re going to go by,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “I had no idea what happened on the scoring situation. It did open the door for us.

“The scorekeeper lost a point somewhere, but we still haven’t found out where.

“All we know is we lost. The loss would have been much worse if we hit a three-point shot at the end and then found out.”

Hibernating: After a season-opening loss to Golden West College, the Canyons women’s basketball team reeled off a school-record 12 victories--including a win over El Camino, the top-ranked team in the state.

But with starters Dominique Ice (sore hamstring) and Dawn Coleman (flu) suffering from injury and illness, that streak came to an end in last week’s Fullerton tournament with losses to Yakima Valley (Wash.) and College of the Sequoias.

“It was good for us to lose,” Coach Jeff Dunlap said. “We started to get overconfident. We needed something to bring us down to earth and wake us up.”

If those losses failed to do the trick, perhaps a 72-67 loss to Valley on Wednesday did.

Staff writers Brendan Healey, Steven Herbert, Kirby Lee and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.