NaLyssa Smith Named to Two More All-American Teams
WACO, Texas – Baylor senior NaLyssa Smith was honored as a member of the John R. Wooden All-America Team the Senior CLASS Award All-American team.
The Wooden Award All-America team is comprised of the top-five vote-getters in the quest to earn the John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year.
Smith joined Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Naz Hillmon (Michigan) and Rhyne Howard (Kentucky) as All-Americans, selected by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
This marks the second Wooden All-American honor for Smith, who joins Brittney Griner (2011-13) and Odyssey Sims (2013-14) as repeat honorees in Baylor history.
Smith was on the second team for the Senior CLASS Award, becoming the first Bear to be named to a Senior CLASS Award All-American Team since Lauren Cox in 2020 and the eighth Baylor finalist in program history.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior or graduate student and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: classroom, community, character, and competition.
These All-America selections were the fifth and sixth of the season for Smith. She was also a first-team pick by Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, the Associated Press and the USBWA.
She led Baylor to its 13th Big 12 regular-season title and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Smith became one of seven Bears to reach the 2,000-point / 1,000-rebound mark in her career.
The Converse, Texas, native averaged 22.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.2 blocks per game during the regular season. Her 25 double-doubles this year set a single-season Baylor record and was good for third in the country.
2022 Women’s Basketball Senior CLASS Awards
Winner
- Lexie Hull, Stanford
First Team All-Americans
- Rhyne Howard, Kentucky
- Ali Patberg, Indiana
- Sam Thomas, Arizona
- Macee Williams, IUPUI
Second Team All-Americans
- Elissa Cunane, NC State
- Naz Hillmon, Michigan
- Morgan Jones, Florida State
- Sonya Morris, DePaul
- NaLyssa Smith, Baylor