She was the all-time leading scorer in women's professional basketball, having achieved over 7000 points in both her ABL and WNBA career.

She began playing basketball as early as the fifth grade on a boys' team and took tap dance and ballet lessons as a youngster.

Her father, John Jr., played football at Ohio University (OU), and won three varsity letters in the 1960s before becoming a dentist.

Her younger brother, Tom, earned three varsity letters playing football at Ohio University as well as being a member on their track and field team.

Her older brother, John, was a member of one of 11 University of Mount Union football teams that won the NCAA Division III title.

[4] She participated in the inaugural WBCA High School All-America Game in 1992, scoring fourteen points, and earning MVP honors.

[8] Source[9] Smith played for the Columbus Quest of the ABL, helping the team to win both League championships in its only two full seasons of existence.

On August 16, 2007 she became the first professional women's basketball player to score 6,000 career points (ABL and WNBA combined).

In 2006, Smith became the first WNBA player to win All Star games as a member of both the Eastern and Western Conference teams.

Smith was the MVP of the 2008 WNBA Finals,[10] when the Detroit Shock beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 3–0.

[12] On April 29, 2011, Smith was acquired by the Seattle Storm in a three-team trade with the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever.

The USA took a small lead in the second half, but the team from Italy responded with a ten-point run, and won the game and the gold medal by a score of 73–65.

[18] As a member of the USAB women's senior national team, Smith helped the US earn the gold medals in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics as well as the 1998 and 2002 World Championships.

[19] Following the end of the Liberty's 2013 season, she was named one of the team's assistant coaches, replacing the departing Taj McWilliams-Franklin.