AMERICAN When Frani Washington, Ohio State’S fi Rst All-American, Played Explosion Against Tennessee on Dec
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202021 OHIO STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INFORMATION GUIDE FRANI WASHINGTON 1979 ALLAMERICAN When Frani Washington, Ohio State’s fi rst All-American, played explosion against Tennessee on Dec. 12, 1978 stood atop the single women’s basketball teams were not playing for Big Ten championships game records for 16 years. Washington scored 30 or more points and berths in the NCAA tournament. There was a Big Ten tournament in fi ve contests and 20 or more in 21 of the Buckeyes’ 30 games, in 1979, but the conference did not sponsor a championship in the averaging 23.7 points per game. sport. Instead, the postseason consisted of the Ohio Association of The statistics show Washington was an all-around player. In addi- Intercollegiate Sports for Women (OAISW) and the Midwest Associa- tion to her scoring talent, the 5-foot-6 forward led the team in steals tion of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) tournaments. (81) and ranked second in assists (98) and rebounds (212) during the Washington was the standout of the 1978-79 Ohio State squad 1978-79 season. She was named an All-American in 1979. that fi nished with a 19-11 record and advanced to the MAIAW tourna- ment under head coach Mary Wilson. During that season, the Toledo, Ohio, native scored 711 points, an Ohio State single-season record she held until the 1995-96 season. Moreover, Washington’s 39-point CAREER STATISTICS GP-GS FG-FGA Pct. FT-FTA Pct. REB Avg. HI PF-D PTS Avg. HI A S BL 1977-78 30-25 161-308 .523 71-108 .657 217 7.2 17 68-0 393 13.1 28 NA NA NA 1978-79 30-30 309-573 .539 93-119 .782 212 7.1 17 90-0 711 23.7 39 98 81 7 1979-80 3-3 28-49 .571 13-16 .812 11 3.6 6 9-0 69 23.0 25 4 8 0 Totals 63-58 498-930 .535 177-243 .728 440 7.0 17 167-0 1173 18.6 39 102 89 7 56 202021 OHIO STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INFORMATION GUIDE TRACEY HALL 1987/88 ALLAMERICAN Tracey Hall, Ohio State’s second basketball All-American, etched game of her collegiate career, scored double fi gures in 101 an impressive line of records during the fi rst decade of women’s games, notched double-digit rebounding eff orts in 50 contests NCAA intercollegiate competition. and combined scoring and rebounding for 39 double-double The Big Ten’s fi rst two-time Kodak All-American (1987, 1988), performances from 1985-88. Hall’s impact on the conference was immediate. The talented With Hall’s talent and leadership, the Buckeyes compiled three forward captured Big Ten freshman of the year and second team consecutive Big Ten championships (1985-87) and a four-year All-Big Ten laurels in 1985. She went on to claim the conference’s conference record of 67-5. OSU’s overall mark during the Hall era top honor, player of the year, in 1986 and ’87, while being selected was 102-20 (.836), which included four trips to the NCAA tourna- fi rst team All-Big Ten in 1986, ’87 and ’88. ment and just one step away from the Final Four with berths in To gain a true sense of Hall’s dominance, however, take a look the regional fi nals in 1985 and ’87. in OSU’s record book, where her impact has been long-lasting. In international competition, Hall competed for the ABA/USA The Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native still ranks sixth on the school’s Select team in 1986 and the World University Games team in 1987. all-time scoring list with 1,912 points in 122 games, second in She was also invited to the U.S. Olympic Team tryouts in 1988. rebounds (1,115), fourth with 807 fi eld goals made and seventh Hall graduated in 1988 with a degree in communications. She in blocked shots (109). She also ranks in the top 5 all-time in FG was inducted into the Ohio State Sports Hall of Fame in September percentage (4th, .600), 1998 and had her No. 44 retired in 2009 in Value City Arena. During the 1986-87 campaign she recorded a then-single- season mark for fi eld goal percentage, connecting on 62 percent of her attempts. Hall also is the fi rst and only Ohio State player to collect more than 300 rebounds in a season. On the way to amassing these records, Hall started every CAREER STATISTICS GP-GS FG-FGA Pct. FT-FTA Pct. REB Avg. HI PF-D PTS Avg. HI A S BL 1984-85 31-31 178-296 .601 4-58 .690 257 8.3 15 61-1 396 12.8 27 64 58 23 1985-86 30-30 203-329 .617 92-125 .736 284 9.5 17 78-2 498 16.6 28 55 63 31 1986-87 31-31 220-355 .620 66-91 .725 305 9.8 19 77-0 506 16.3 26 89 59 32 1987-88 30-30 206-366 .563 100-128 .781 269 9.0 15 73-1 512 17.1 28 77 79 23 Totals 122-122 807-1346 .600 298-402 .741 1115 9.1 19 289-4 1912 15.7 28 285 259 109 OhioStateBuckeyes.com 57 202021 OHIO STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INFORMATION GUIDE NIKITA LOWRY 1989 ALLAMERICAN Ohio State’s string of All-Americans continued on the heels of most valuable player award. Tracey Hall’s graduation in 1988 as Nikita Lowry, a Kodak All-Region An off -season knee injury slowed Lowry’s progress at the start selection in 1988, became the Buckeyes’ third All-American in 1989. of her senior season. The Buckeyes opened the 1988-89 campaign The 6-foot forward gave a preview of her future success as a ranked in the polls, but lost three of their fi rst fi ve games. Lowry, sophomore. Although she was not in the starting lineup, Lowry however, came back to lead the Big Ten in scoring for the second ranked second on the team in scoring (13.6 ppg) and led the straight year with an average of nearly 19 points per game. The squad in free throw accuracy (.767). In fact, Lowry prevailed as team ended the season with an overall record of 24-6 and as co- the only non-starter among the Big Ten’s Top 15 scorers. A native champions in the Big Ten with a 16-2 conference mark. In addition of Detroit, Mich., her eff orts did not go unnoticed, as she claimed to earning All-America honors, Lowry was a unanimous fi rst team second team All-Big Ten honors and OSU’s sixth player award. All-Big Ten selection and winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Silver Lowry dominated the Big Ten as a junior. She led the conference Basketball award. in scoring (23.7 ppg), becoming the fi rst OSU player to average Graduating in 1990 with a bachelor of science degree in eco- more than 20 points in a season since Frani Washington in 1978-79. nomics, she has enjoyed coaching stops at Michigan, Ohio State, Lowry also paced the conference in fi eld-goal percentage (.616) Detroit and New Mexico State. Lowry was hired as an assistant at and steals (3.1 spg) and co-led in the rebounding column (8.4 rpg). Old Dominion University in the summer of 2002. Lowry’s “break out” year included a 28-point, 12-rebound perfor- In September 2000, Lowry was honored with an induction into mance to help OSU beat then-No. 1 Iowa (58-54) before a sellout the Ohio State Sports Hall of Fame. crowd of 13,320 in St. John Arena. Additionally, she established career highs for scoring (36 points against Illinois) and rebounding (14, two times at Cal-State Fullerton and Iowa) and capped the campaign with a unanimous fi rst team All-Big Ten pick and OSU’s CAREER STATISTICS GP-GS FG-FGA Pct. FT-FTA Pct. REB Avg. HI PF-D PTS Avg. HI A S BL 1985-86 28-8 82-167 .491 60-80 .750 116 4.1 9 57-0 224 8.0 26 22 34 8 1986-87 31-0 161-303 .531 99-128 .773 138 4.5 9 75-1 422 13.6 28 48 33 16 1987-88 28-27 251-419 .599 120-173 .694 255 8.0 14 70-0 622 22.2 36 40 77 7 1988-89 25-24 183-344 .532 102-146 .699 182 7.3 15 45-1 478 19.1 33 42 46 12 Totals 112-59 677-1233 .550 381-527 .723 661 5.9 15 237-2 1746 15.6 36 152 190 43 58 202021 OHIO STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INFORMATION GUIDE KATIE SMITH 1993/96 ALLAMERICAN Touted as the most sought after high school basketball player, player in league history (along with Buckeye Tracey Hall) to receive it didn’t take long for Logan, Ohio, native Katie Smith to become the prestigious Kodak All-America honor twice in her career. She a household name across the country. also was tabbed the 1996 Big Ten Player of the Year, the Chicago Leading the way with an 18.8 scoring average, Smith steered Tribune Silver Basketball recipient and a unanimous fi rst team the Ohio State program back into the national limelight as a All-Big Ten choice, her third straight honor.