Westwood’s Callie Smith signs with Shorter

CAMILLA — Callie Smith pulled the chair from underneath the table, sat down and grabbed a pen.

As a group of Westwood basketball players watched Smith and photographed her every move, the basketball standout and member of the Albany Herald’s Super 6 team smiled and paused for a moment.

“Somebody just tell me when to go,” Smith said.

The standout performer who helped Westwood to back-to-back state titles and a state runner-up finish in the Georgia Independent Schools Association Class AAA tournament this year, signed a letter-of-intent Thursday to continue her career at Shorter University, an NCAA Division II program in Rome.

After tryouts at Coastal Georgia, Young Harris, Georgia College and Augusta, Smith said she felt Shorter was the best fit.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I feel like I’ll fit into the program.”

The senior was one of the area’s top scorers and a lethal 3-point shooter.

When she heads off to play in college, she will be playing for a different coach. Her mother Jenni was her head coach at Westwood, while her father Tim was an assistant. The pair announced after the season they were stepping aside to spend more time watching their daughters play. The Smith’s oldest daughter, Sydnee, plays tennis at Georgia Southwestern.

Callie Smith said it will feel strange not seeing her parents coaching her.

“It’s definitely going to be different,” she said. “And I’m going to miss playing for them. Basketball has always been family time for us. I’ve spent half of my life in the gym. But it is going to be different to have them as fans and having them wear buttons and cheering for me from the stands.”

Jenni Smith said Callie had a basketball in her hands when she was two. She had to hold back tears when talking about her daughter as a player.

“I’m happy she’s getting a chance to fulfill her dream,” Jenni Smith said. “After all these years when I watch a basketball game, I would see five players on the floor. I never got a chance to just focus on Callie. It’s going to be fun to watch my kid.”

While Callie Smith said she’d liked to have won the final game for a third consecutive state title, she wouldn’t change her career.

“Everything happens for a reason,” she said. “We were blessed to have done all that we got to do.”