By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

NEW ORLEANS – Former Reserve Christian standout Trenese Smith continues to rack up accolades.

For the third straight year, the Loyola University New Orleans women’s basketball star has been named Allstate Sugar Bowl Outstanding Female Amateur Athlete for the Greater New Orleans Area.

It doesn’t end there, as the senior has also earned honorable mention honors for the 2009-2010 National All-Jesuit Women’s Team as announced by the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight.

Smith, a native of LaPlace, shared the Sugar Bowl award with Olivia Grayson, a freshman on the Tulane basketball team.

“I found out about it from a family member’s facebook status,” Smith laughed. “So I went to check it out. It was unexpected.”

The guard/forward finished her career as the Wolfpack’s all-time leading scorer with 2,439 points.

This past season, she scored over 17 points per game, leading Loyola to 19 wins.

For her career, she led the ‘Pack to a 104-39 record and three bids to the NAIA National Tournament. Loyola’s deepest run in the tournament was in the 2007-08 season where they reached the Elite Eight after defeating top-seeded Point Loma Nazarene.

In conference play, Smith guided Loyola to three regular season GCAC championships and two tournament titles. She was named All-GCAC four times and garnered GCAC Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons.

But this season, Smith had to overcome some obstacles, mainly an injury to twin sister Trenell in the season’s opening game.

“I always thought we’d play our senior year together,” Smith said. “It was a big adjustment. We struggled, but I think we did better than a lot of people thought we would without her.”

Of the 18 players honored by the JBS, Smith was the only non-NCAA player to receive recognition.

Smith won several awards this season which included NAIA-American, All-Louisiana, and All-GCAC.

Loyola had two games this season that were featured in the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight, both resulting in victories against long time rival Spring Hill College.

Along with being named All-Louisiana four times, she was also recognized nationally, earning NAIA All-American honors in each of her four full seasons and was WBCA All-American as a senior.