Rhonda Banchero
{{short description|American basketball player}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Rhonda Smith-Banchero
| image =
| caption =
| position =
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 3
| weight_lbs = 185
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|05|01|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = Seattle, Washington
| nationality = American
| high_school = Franklin
(Seattle, Washington)
| college = Washington (1991–1995)
| career_position = Center
| career_start = 1995
| career_end = 2001
| draft_league = WNBA
| draft_year = 2000
| draft_round = 3
| draft_pick = 46
| draft_team = Sacramento Monarchs
| years1 = 1996–1998
| team1 = Seattle Reign
| years2 = 1998
| team2 = Portland Power
| years3 = 2000
| team3 = Sacramento Monarchs
| highlights = * 3x All Pac-10 (1993–1995)
| medal_templates =
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = February 2025}}
Rhonda Smith-Banchero ({{nee|Smith}}; born May 1, 1973) is an American former basketball player. She played college basketball for the Washington Huskies{{cite news |author1=Mosher |first=Terry |date=March 15, 1995 |title=Huskies' Smith no powderpuff |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kitsap-sun-huskies-smith-no-powderpuff/136139834/ |access-date=2 December 2023 |work=Kitsap Sun |pages=C1–[https://www.newspapers.com/article/kitsap-sun-smith-from-page-c1/136139856/ C2] |via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}{{cite news |author1=Theresa Smith |date=March 8, 1994 |title=You can always count on mom |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-you-can-always-count-on/136139874/ |access-date=2 December 2023 |work=The News Tribune |pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-smith-continued-from-c/136139889/ C5] |via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} where she graduated as the school's all-time leading scorer and was inducted to the Husky Hall of Fame in 2004. She went on to play professionally for several seasons, including for the Sacramento Monarchs in the WNBA.{{Cite web |last=Marmor |first=Jon |date=March 1, 1998 |title=Rhonda Smith, ’95, lives her dream of playing pro basketball in Seattle |url=https://magazine.washington.edu/rhonda-smith-95-lives-her-dream-of-playing-pro-basketball-in-seattle/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=University of Washington Magazine}}
Amateur career
Smith-Banchero attended Franklin High School in Seattle. She led the school's basketball team to the semifinals of the state playoffs in 1988 and 1989.{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Gregg |date=March 2, 2004 |title=Flashback: Rhonda Smith Franklin, Class of 1992 |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20040302/flashback02/flashback-rhonda-smith-franklin-class-of-1992 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Seattle Times}} She holds the record for most rebounds in a Washington state playoff game.{{Cite web |title=Rhonda Smith |url=https://www.spsathletichalloffame.org/rhonda-smith-bio.htm |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=SPS Athletic Hall of Fame}} Her senior season, she was named state high school girl's basketball player of the year by the Seattle Times and Gatorade.{{Cite web |last=Kugiya |first=Hugo |date=March 12, 1991 |title=No. 1 In Washington -- Rhonda Smith: Quaker Ready For New Challenges As Husky |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19910312/1271136/no-1-in-washington----rhonda-smith-quaker-ready-for-new-challenges-as-husky |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Seattle Times}}
Smith-Banchero then attended the University of Washington. She became familiar with her hometown team and coach Chris Gobrecht after her older sister became the team's manager. Smith-Banchero set the school's all-time scoring record, which was later broken by Jamie Redd.{{cite news |author1=Adam Jude |title=Kelsey Plum sets school record in Washington women’s victory over Stanford |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-basketball/kelsey-plum-sets-school-record-in-victory-over-stanford/ |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Seattle Times |date=4 March 2016}}{{Cite web |title=Washington Women's Basketball Leaders & Records - Career |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/washington/women/leaders-and-records-career.html |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com |language=en}} In her final three seasons, Smith-Banchero topped the Huskies in points and rebounds and led to the NCAA tournament, winning at least one home game each tournament appearance. Her senior year, she was named an All-American by Basketball America.{{Cite web |title=2024 25 WBB Record Book |url=https://gohuskies.com/documents/2024/11/19/2024-25_WBB_Record_Book_PDF.pdf |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=University of Washington Athletics |page= |pages=6, 11, 16}}
Professional career
After college, Smith played professional basketball in Taiwan before joining the Seattle Reign of the American Basketball League. She later played for the Portland Power in the defunct women's league, then played in Israel in 1999 before being drafted by the Sacramento Monarchs in the third round of the 2000 WNBA Draft.{{Cite news |date=2000-05-29 |title=2000 Monarchs at a glance |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-2000-monarchs-at-a-gl/136139782/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=The Sacramento Bee |pages=19 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web |title=2000 WNBA Draft |url=https://www.wnba.com/draft/2000 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=WNBA}} She played nine games in the 2000 WNBA season.{{Cite web |title=Rhonda Banchero WNBA Stats |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/b/banchrh01w.html |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Basketball-Reference.com |language=en}}
Career statistics
{{WNBA player statistics legend}}
WNBA career statistics
=Regular season=
{{WNBA player statistics start}}
|-
| align="left" | 2000
| align="left" | Sacramento
|9||0||2.3||28.6||0.0||50.0||0.3||0.1||0.0||0.0||0.2||0.7
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 1 year, 1 team
|9||0||2.3||28.6||0.0||50.0||0.3||0.1||0.0||0.0||0.2||0.7
{{S-end}}
= College =
{{WNBA player statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 1991–92
| style="text-align:left;" | Washington
|27||-||-||47.4||0.0||55.7||4.0||0.2||0.8||0.2||-||7.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 1992–93
| style="text-align:left;" | Washington
|27||-||-||56.3||0.0||57.1||6.9||0.3||1.3||0.4||-||17.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 1993–94
| style="text-align:left;" | Washington
|29||-||-||54.7||0.0||56.9||7.8||0.7||1.5||0.2||-||18.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 1994–95
| style="text-align:left;" | Washington
|33||-||-||51.4||40.0||65.9||8.5||1.0||1.5||0.3||-||17.7
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Career
|116||-||-||53.0||33.3||59.7||6.9||0.6||1.3||0.3||-||15.5
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="14"|Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/rhonda-smith-1.html|title=Rhonda Banchero College Stats|publisher=Sports-Reference|accessdate=April 11, 2024}}
{{s-end}}
Post-playing career
Smith-Banchero has worked several jobs after her playing career. She was a software-licensing consultant for Microsoft. She is now the director of organizational equity and inclusion at Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle.{{Cite web |title=Leadership |url=https://www.desc.org/about/leadership/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=DESC}}{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.rhondasmithbanchero.com/about |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Rhonda Smith Banchero |language=en-US}}
In basketball, she coached the girls basketball team at Holy Names Academy and was a color commentator for UW women's basketball broadcasts.{{Cite web |last=Spears |first=Marc J. |date=2022-04-01 |title=For Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Mom is the catalyst for his success, personal growth |url=https://andscape.com/features/for-dukes-paolo-banchero-mom-is-the-catalyst-for-his-success-personal-growth/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Andscape |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Smith-Banchero is the mother of NBA All-Star Paolo Banchero.{{cite news |author1=Raley |first=Dan |date=April 1, 2020 |title=S-I Chooses Seattle's Paolo Banchero to Its All-American Team |url=https://www.si.com/college/washington/basketball/paolo-banchero-selected-to-sports-illustrated-team |access-date=30 November 2021 |work=Sports Illustrated}} Smith-Banchero helped her son file a lawsuit in 2019 against the King County Sheriff’s Office after an officer pointed a gun at a friend of Banchero during a traffic stop in after a concert 2018. The sheriff's office apologized to the two black children and implemented new use-of-force guidelines when its officers approach motorists. Banchero received $20,000 from the lawsuit.{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Mike |date=2019-09-05 |title=King County sheriff will apologize to 2 black teens held at gunpoint, pay $80K |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/king-county-sheriff-will-apologize-to-2-black-teens-held-at-gunpoint-settles-lawsuit-for-80k/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704204107/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/king-county-sheriff-will-apologize-to-2-black-teens-held-at-gunpoint-settles-lawsuit-for-80k/ |archive-date=2022-07-04 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Seattle Times}}
Smith-Banchero met her husband, Mario Banchero at the University of Washington, when she played on the basketball team and he was a walk-on on the football team. He is the co-owner of a family butcher and meat distributor business.{{Cite web |last=Gutman |first=David |date=2024-02-16 |title=Seattle’s newest NBA superstar and his dad’s 90-year-old butcher shop |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattles-newest-nba-superstar-and-his-dads-90-year-old-butcher-shop/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240216151735/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattles-newest-nba-superstar-and-his-dads-90-year-old-butcher-shop/ |archive-date=2024-02-16 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Seattle Times}}
Smith-Banchero has two younger children who are also athletes. Mia Banchero is a college soccer player at Queens University of Charlotte.{{Cite web |title=Mia Banchero - 2024 - Women's Soccer |url=https://queensathletics.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/mia-banchero/11657 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Queens University of Charlotte Athletics |language=en}} Giulio Banchero plays football at O'Dea High School.{{Cite web |title=Giulio Banchero, O'Dea , Athlete |url=https://247sports.com/Player/giulio-banchero-46144172/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=247Sports |language=en-US}}
Smith-Banchero grew up in the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle, where she still lives.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/b/banchrh01w.html WNBA statistics] at Basketball Reference
- [https://gohuskies.com/sports/2013/4/18/208225408 Washington Huskies profile]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banchero, Rhonda}}
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Israel
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Taiwan
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Turkey
Category:American women's basketball players
Category:Basketball players from Washington (state)
Category:Sacramento Monarchs players
Category:Washington Huskies women's basketball players
{{1970s-US-basketball-bio-stub}}