Saint Louis University head women’s basketball coach Rebecca Tillett announced Tra’Dayja Smith an assistant coach on May 2, 2022.
In Smith’s first season at SLU, she was part of a record-breaking team that saw the Billikens win the program’s first-ever Atlantic 10 Conference tournament championship and make its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
SLU ended its season facing off against No. 3-seeded Tennessee, a game that drew the most viewers – 639,000 – of any first-round contest.
SLU’s championship team also produced three All-Conference selections with Brooke Flowers (co-Defensive Player of the Year, second team, All-Defensive team), Kyla McMakin (second team), and Julia Martinez (All-Defensive team) earning honors for the Billikens.
Prior to joining coach Tillett’s staff as an assistant coach, Smith spent three seasons (2019-22) under her as Longwood University's starting point guard, where she helped the team to a conference championship, the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance and the Lancers’ first NCAA Tournament victory.
Smith was one of the top point guards in the country during 2021-22 season, ranking 19th in the NCAA with 179 totals assists and 22nd with 5.3 assists per game. Winners in 15 of their final 17 games during the 2021-22 season, she helped guide the Lancers to their best overall and league records since joining the Big South almost 10 years ago, finishing 22-12 overall and 15-3 in the conference.
In her three seasons with the Lancers, Smith totaled 502 helpers. With 188 as a junior in 2019-20 and 179 as a graduate student in 2021-22, she holds the top two single-season assist totals in Longwood women’s basketball history. In her junior campaign, Smith ranked fourth in the NCAA with an average of 6.5 assists.
Smith started every game for the Lancers since her arrival from Trinity Valley Community College in 2019-20. She helped lead Longwood to 48 victories over that span and the first two postseason appearances for the program.
Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Longwood in 2021 and completed a Master of Business Administration from Longwood in June 2022.
