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Smeaton selected for Alaska Ice elite team

June 7th 1:24 pm | Van Williams Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

When Alaska Ice coach Doug Boyer constructed his elite girls basketball team he wanted intense, tough and talented players.

One of his first recruits was Dillingham's Kristin Smeaton.

The all-conference guard averaged nearly 20 points a game last season for the Lady Wolverines as a dribble-and-drive scorer.

She's also a passionate player who lives for basketball.

"I can't really go without," she said. "I kind of need to play."

Smeaton will be busy this summer as she joins a travel team that is embarking on a four-week, 50-game tour of tournaments in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Florida during June and July.

"I'm pretty excited," she said. "It should be fun."

The Alaska Ice elite team was founded by Boyer, the Bethel coach who also coached at Nome High School and Othello High School in Washington. He created the travel team as way to get these players exposed to college programs.

"There are a lot of good girls basketball players from rural Alaska that are never seen or heard about," he said. ""I'm really big on trying to push kids as hard as I can to go to the next level because there are so many opportunities. That's kind of what this trip is for."

The long road trip will culminate with the National AAU Tournament in Orlando, Fla.

"These girls will have a chance to play the best of the best in the country," Boyer said.

The handpicked roster is made up of Smeaton, Bethel's Kira Polk, Mary Dyment and Christine McElwee, Barrow's Lynette Hepa and Hilary Lowery, Valdez's Caitlin Auble and Rachelle Johnson, Houston's Savannah James and Nome's Devynn Johnson and Dylan Johnson.

Smeaton already knows all of the players and she feels that familiarity will help her on the court.

"I kind of know how they play," she said, "and we're going early to practice, so we can get used to playing together."

Boyer also knows each player having coached against them during the last two high school seasons.

"All of these girls get after it," he said. "They have that drive to get better and to play their hardest."

The 5-foot-6 Smeaton fits the bill.

She's an excellent all-around athlete who was MVP of her basketball team, an all-star on the volleyball court and the Dillingham High School Female Athlete of the Year award winner.

She's also a 4.0 student.

If anybody deserves a summer vacation, it's her. Yet she will hit the road with the Alaska Ice in search of scholarship.

"I've wanted to play college basketball since I was little," Smeaton said.

In an effort to prepare the players for the trip Boyer emailed each of one of them a workout schedule that included shooting drills, weight training and running drills.

"He gave us a whole list of things to do," Smeaton said. "It's helped a lot actually."

The Alaska Ice will begin their road trip in Washington, where they will compete in the Gonzaga Shootout Tournament and Camp Tournament in Spokane.

While in town the team will get to scrimmage members of a Gonzaga University squad that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season. Boyer is good buddies with Bulldogs coach Kelly Graves.

"We know each other pretty well," he said.

In Oregon, they will play in the End of the Trail Tournament, a Nike Tournament and the Oregon City Classic in Portland.

In Idaho, they will play in the Camp Classic Tournament in Liberty Lake.

In Florida, they will play in the AAU Super Showcase Tournament and National AAU Tournament in Orlando.

Most of the girls have never faced Lower 48 competition, so at first it will probably be a jolt. But in the long run Boyer believes the experience will make each of the players better.

"I think that initial shock will be eye opening and that's why we will do so many tournaments, camps and clinics leading up to the national championship," he said. "I think all of it will prepare them for it. I would say with this group of girls going, I think they all could turn this into a college scholarship."

 

Van Williams can be reached at vwilliams@alaskanewspapers.com

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