There’s no “I” in team, but on March 5 the Lady Wolfpack gladly took a backseat to one of their star players. Trenese Smith, business management senior, scored her way into Loyola’s history books.

Smith entered the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference semi-finals game against the William Carey Lady Crusaders needing seven points to eclipse the scoring mark of 1,866 points previously held by former Wolfpack teammate, Kiely Schork A’08.

In front of her home crowd, Smith surpassed Schork’s all-time scoring mark when she hit a three pointer with 8:25 left in the first half. Game officials paused the game briefly to present Smith with the game-ball.

After the game, Smith said how happy she was to break the record.

“I feel great to break the record because Kiely was one of the best players to have come through this program,” she said. “Breaking her record shows that I’m a great player too.”

Smith said she often forgot how close she actually was to becoming the all-time leading scorer for the Wolfpack.

“Some of my teammates, like Christine, constantly reminded me before every game that I was inching closer and closer to the record. It’s not something I worry about really, my main focus is helping my team win basketball games,” Smith said.

Kellie Kennedy, women’s head basketball coach, spoke proudly of her player’s accolade that night.

“I’m just so proud of her, I can’t even tell you,” Kennedy said. “She deserves that so much. I’m so excited that I had the chance to coach her this year and I’m really excited to coach her next year.”

Schork, an occasional assistant coach for the Lady Wolfpack, was in attendance to support Smith’s attempt to break the record she set a year ago as well as cheer her former team to victory. After the game, Schork shared her thoughts on Smith’s historical night.

“I’m excited that Trenese broke it tonight,” Schork said. “It proves to everyone how great she is.”

Schork believes the new record is even more special since she knows Smith
personally. “It means a lot more because I have a relationship with Trenese and because we respect each other”, she said.

Schork believes that both her and Trenese’s competitive nature in practice helped each other grow as basketball players. Each player’s desire to perform well transferred from practice over to the game floor.

“Practice always seemed to be a little heated between us and that (competition) made both of us better,” Schork said. “So during the game I knew I could get the ball to her and she would score.”   

The reigning three-time GCAC player of the year finished the game scoring a team high 27 points along with grabbing eight rebounds to ensure her team’s third consecutive trip the GCAC championship game against the LSU-Shreveport Lady Pilots.

After four years of averaging 17 points per game, Smith is the sole owner of the scoring mark with 1,886 career points.

With another year of eligibility, her career point total will only continue to increase.

“Your looking at a player who has been the three-time GCAC player of the year and with a year left to play, she just broke the all-time scoring record at Loyola. She has another year to add to her scoring mark and become GCAC player of the year again and I think she deserves every bit of the recognition she gets,” Kennedy said.

Craig Malveaux can be reached at [email protected].