ANOTHER star in the making produced a standout performance for the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (BA CoE) in their six-point win over the Inner West Bulls in the NBL1 East Women’s action over the weekend.

The CoE had enjoyed a strong start to the season, losing just one game to start the year and looking every bit a championship contender. With the strong play of Sitaya Fagan leading the way, the team of young guns were playing strong basketball, and came into this clash as favourites over a Bulls side that sat further down the standings.

It was the first half that set up the match for the CoE, silencing the home crowd at Concord Recreational Centre to lead by 13 points at the main break, completely in control of the contest. Although the Bulls improved in the second half, their comeback fell six points short as the CoE claimed an 83-77 triumph on the road.

Although Fagan had a quiet day by her lofty standards, it was Isabel Smith who stood up for the CoE, delivering the best performance of the match to lead her team to victory.

Inner West Bulls (77) def. by BA CoE (83)

Isabel Smith – 22 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block

After pouring in 20 points in the big win over the Hills Hornets earlier in the round, Smith backed it up with another massive performance, and at just 16 years of age, appears to have a bright future ahead in the sport of basketball.

It took her a few minutes, but Smith got going with a three-pointer in the first term to help the CoE out to a six-point buffer early in the piece. With the ability to score at all three levels, the youngster then took her opponent off the dribble and finished at the cup a couple of minutes later in a red-hot start to the match.

She was not done for the term just yet, chasing down a miss from one of her teammates to grab the offensive board, dishing to Zara Russell before getting it back on the perimeter and splashing home her second triple of the quarter. She nailed a midrange jumper as time expired in the quarter to finish with 10 points for the term and be the most influential player on the floor.

Smith kept her form rolling in the second frame, drawing contact in the opening minutes of the period to head to the free throw line, where she nailed one of her two attempts. It was a trend that continued for the next few minutes, with Smith splitting her free throw attempts on three more trips, unfortunately leaving four points at the charity stripe.

She recorded her sole field goal for the quarter with just under a minute to play, driving inside and finishing at the hoop, with the defence less aggressive in guarding her given how easily Smith was able to draw contact throughout the first half.

The 16-year-old continued to find luck scoring the ball inside, driving to the hoop to open her account for the third quarter with another layup. She showcased her shooting ability with another midrange jumper later in the frame in what proved to be an important make after the Bulls made a push after half-time.

Another layup and some excellent fourth quarter defence capped off a great win for the CoE and a dominant performance from Smith. She finished with 22 points on 8/15 shooting from the field to go with nine boards, three assists, two steals and a block in a tremendous all-around performance that has certainly put her on the map.