Mission’s Kim (Smith) Gaucher will add another accolade to her storied basketball career this Friday (March 3) when she will be inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.
The NCAA conference will induct an all-female class into its Hall of Honor at the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend.
Gaucher attended Heritage Park Secondary in Mission before carving a legendary collegiate career with the University of Utah from 2002-06 as Kim Smith.
Gaucher was a four-time Mountain West Conference Player of the Year during her time with Utah—twice outright and twice shared. She set the program record for points with 2,281 and earned third-team All-America honours as a senior in 2006.
She was four-time Honorable Mention Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American, and a four-time Academic All-American. The Missionite is a member of the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame and was the first female student-athlete to have her jersey number retired in recognition of her time with the Utes.
READ MORE: Basketball in Mission suffering from lack of coaches and gym time
She graduated from Utah with a bachelor’s degree in communications and later worked as the director of community relations for the Utah’s women’s basketball program from 2013-15.
After an impressive college career, Gaucher continued to hoop professionally around the world while playing a central role with the Canadian national team.
She was the 13th overall selection for the Sacramento Monarchs in the first-round of the 2006 WNBA Draft and was later acquired by the Phoenix Mercury in 2009. She got her start with the national team in 2001 and became a three-time Olympian.
She was Canada’s leading scorer at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and helped the squad to the quarterfinals. She also played for Canada in the 2016 Rio Games and in Tokyo 2020.
Gaucher has also competed for Canada in the FIBA AmeriCup in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2o15, as well as the 2015 Pan-American Games.
The Pac-12 Hall of Honor was established in 2002 to celebrate the achievements of former student-athletes from across the conference. In 2018, it expanded from a men’s basketball-specific focus to welcome other figures from the conference’s history.
The class also will be honoured during a ceremony at halftime of the day’s first semifinal matchup at Michelob Ultra Arena inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
@dillon_white
dillon.white@missioncityrecord.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.