INPERSON
Slam
Dunk!
Former USC basketball player
Kyra Kaylor Smargiasso inducted
into William & Mary Hall of Fame
BY LEIGH LYONS
T
his past May, smiling ear
to ear, all-time leading
point scorer and all-
time leading rebounder
Kyra Kaylor Smargiasso
was inducted into
the prestigious William & Mary Hall
of Fame. She was surrounded by her
husband, Todd, mother and stepfather
Karen and Brian Shanahan, father and
stepmother Tom and Erin Kaylor, niece
Elayna Kaylor, and her two biggest
fans, sons Chase and Mason. She also
had the support of her former head
coach, Debbie Taylor, and some close
teammates including Katy Neumer and
the Gethers family.
From travel basketball to high school
basketball, Smargiasso transitioned easily
as a freshman to varsity basketball for the
Upper St. Clair Panthers in 1999. In such
an elite program, it was not often that
a freshman made the varsity squad, let
alone have significant playing time, but
Smargiasso did just that.
The Lady Panthers were a solid team
throughout her high school years,
building up to Smargiasso’s pinnacle
senior season. Through hard work,
team unity and Smargiasso’s leadership,
the Lady Panthers finally captured the
WPIAL championship in 2003, capping
off her outstanding high school career.
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Throughout high school, Smargiasso
had the goal to play college basketball, but
if you had asked her then, she didn’t have
William & Mary on her radar. When she
visited the college, however, she loved the
campus and coaching staff.
Her accomplishments there were not
without setbacks. Freshman year, she
had a torn meniscus; sophomore year, a
back injury severe enough requiring her
to redshirt; and then, during her redshirt
junior year, she had a torn PCL followed
by a partially torn ACL senior year.
But to see what Smargiasso
accomplished at William & Mary, you’d
have no idea she went through all of that.
She ended her collegiate career as
the all-time leading point scorer and
all-time leading rebounder at William &
Mary. At one point, Smargiasso was the
leading rebounder in her conference, and
fourth leading rebounder in the nation
in Division I women’s basketball. There
are 351 Division I women’s basketball
programs in the United States.
Despite that distinction, her focus has
always been on her team. “We achieved
back-to-back winning seasons, which may
not seem like a lot, but that is something
they’d not accomplished in a very long
time,” Smargiasso says.
icmags.com
In 2008, after graduating
with a master’s degree in education,
she began her career, teaching in
the Mt. Lebanon School District for
nine years, seven of which at Hoover
Elementary School.
A year later, Smargiasso was offered
the head coaching position at Peters
Township, and a few years after that, she
was hired as an assistant coach at her alma
mater, USC. Being back at USC was a
great experience for Smargiasso, but she
ended her time there when her first son,
Chase, was born.
Quick to point out that her family is
her favorite team, she has not regretted
the decision, and knows she will get back
into coaching at some point, hoping to be
on the sidelines for her sons’ teams. n