What they are saying about Katie....
"You know she's going to be the one that makes the play. We
just didn't switch out and guard her through the
possession. She made a nice, hard cut; we defended it. She
made a back-cut, and we didn't guard that. A big shot by a
big-time player... Big-time players play in crunch time. You
saw Katie Smith do it..."
Seattle coach Anne Donovan, August 2
"It was anybody's game for the taking until the last second.
Unfortunately, we didn't pull it out... The last two seconds
of the game was the only difference tonight. That was it. It
was just Katie Smith."
Seattle center Lauren Jackson, August 2
“Amanda did a great job making it hard for Katie to get
good looks. She got her shots, but they certainly weren't
easy. But Katie is a great player. She doesn't need a lot of
space. She knocked down a big shot. I guess you just can't keep
her down for the entire game."
Seattle guard Sue Bird, August 2
“Katie gets more impressive with every game. She's been
turning it on as of late — she's shooting the ball well, she's
playing great defense, and this team just feeds off her...
When I look at Katie Smith, she's constantly having to earn
respect around the league."
Minnesota coach Suzie McConnell Serio, July 10
“When you have a hot shooter like Katie Smith, you have to
respond — and we didn't. We were late getting to her, and she
made us pay... You have to get out on her faster. As a team,
you have to work hard on defending her. One man cannot
be responsible for guarding her. It's nothing different. She
does the same thing all the time. We just have to work
harder on defense."
Connecticut guard Shannon Johnson, July 10
“We had no answer for her tonight. We tried several
different people on her. Whoever it was we had on her, she
took it to them. It didn't matter. She was in a zone tonight."
Former Sacramento coach Maura McHugh, July 8
“Everything she put up seemed like it went in. She was in a
zone. We know she's that kind of player — I think everybody
in the league does. She leads the team. There really wasn't
anything we could do. We tried some different matchups, we
switched the defenses... She just had a great game."
Sacramento forward Tangela Smith, July 8
“It (three-point shooting) was tremendous. I think that is
what they are known for. Katie Smith, you can't leave her
open or she will kill you. We didn't want to leave her open,
but we got caught not switching off of a couple of screens.
If you don't switch, she will knock it down. And that's
exactly what happened."
Phoenix guard Tamicha Jackson, June 27
“Katie Smith is some kind of player. She had 27, and there was
absolutely nothing we could do about it. It's a good thing
we did a good job of getting her in a bit of foul trouble. If
she hadn't, she wouldn't have had 27 — she would've had 67."
Houston coach Van Chancellor, June 17