Feb 5 | Equestrian, Rowing, Women's Basketball, Cross Country, Women's Golf, Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Tennis, Volleyball, Track & Field, Student-Athlete Success
SMU women's basketball hosted a National Girls and Women in Sports game in Saturday's 81-73 victory over Memphis.
In observance of the national holiday, SMU gave out free t-shirts from Simmons Bank to the first 500 fans to check-in at Moody Coliseum, honored all of the women's sports teams with photos on the videoboard, including defending NCEA National Champion Equestrian and reigning AAC Champions from Women's Tennis, Women's Golf, Volleyball and Rowing. The game had a variety of sports-themed games for kids during timeouts, including bumping volleyballs into buckets and backhanding tennis balls into hoops.
While watching seven-year-olds run relays with the women's track and field team and dribble soccer balls between cones with the soccer team during media timeouts was certainly entertaining, the postgame clinic with the women's sports teams was the star of the programming.
After women's basketball's record performance, in which it tied the program's second-best shooting percentage in history, kids trampled down the Moody's steps to get down to half court for the clinic. A group of kids even ambushed junior Chantae Embry after dropping a career-high 26 points on Memphis for hugs and photos.
"It's so important for females to be seen in the sports atmosphere and for these little kids to see them playing," women's basketball head coach Toyelle Wilson said.
The postgame clinic, which was free for attendees, was more comparable to an open gym than a formal skill-building clinic. SMU student-athletes from women's basketball, volleyball, soccer and rowing all casually hung out with the children for thirty minutes after the game ended. They had free reign over the Coach Bob Prewitt Practice Courts in the Crum Basketball Center adjacent to Moody Coliseum, where they bumped volleyballs back and forth, passed soccer balls, played knockout and sprinted around the facilities.
While the clinic seemed fun for the kids, the student-athletes got a kick out of the clinic, too. Volleyball's Ellie Bolton and Evan Glade laughed while they traded off passing with the attendees and hitting volleyballs into the ceiling to see if they could catch them on the way down. Women's Basketball's Maya Chandler, who just wrapped up a seven-point performance where she was praised by Embry for her gritty defense a few minutes prior, was accused of being "beat" by a little boy. She was nice about it, and proclaimed that she had, in fact, been defeated.
"This is just a really cute event," Glade said. "It is really cool to have the basketball team here, too, in their jerseys immediately after playing."
In the first half of that game, it was raining threes for SMU. Backed by a rowdy audience of many local youth basketball programs, including Westwood Junior High and Bowman Middle School's girls basketball teams, the Mustangs hit 4-of-6 from outside the arc. The string of threes and some scrappy play inside the paint from sophomore TK Pitts, graduate transfer Reagan Bradley and Embry kindled a ten-point scoring run midway through the second quarter.
That momentum carried into the second half, when the Mustangs forced eight turnovers and continued shooting well from inside the paint, overpowering the Tigers in front of many of SMU's other student-athletes and the large group of young girls that would be attending the postgame clinic.
Wilson said that women's sports are catching more traction than ever. From Nebraska Volleyball to Iowa Basketball, who both sold out their football stadiums for games, women in sports are catching attention on both social media and TV viewership. Wilson wants SMU to cultivate this girl power by not only packing Moody for women's games, but engaging young girls in Dallas, regardless if they are actively competing in sports or not.
"Right now it's all about girl power," Wilson said. "It gives you a sense of healthiness, powerfulness (and) confidence."
SMU's official honoree for the AAC's National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Kristin Wagner Henderson, demonstrates this powerfulness. A member of the esteemed women's swim and dive team from (1978-1982), Henderson has served as the Alumni Board Chair on SMU's Board of Trustees and helped establish the new Holt Hickman Outdoor Pool, an Olympic pool that was completed in late 2023.                         Â
Wagner was honored during the first quarter in Saturday's game.
Additionally, Dallas Wings guard Odyssey Sims made an appearance at the game to lead a t-shirt toss, further cementing the goal of the day: To show that girls and women are not only capable of doing great things, but that they're already doing it.
"I'm the first female Black head coach of any sport here at SMU," Wilson said. "It is important for people to know that they can do things that have never been done."
