Sisters Return to Court as Mom, Auntie

When Jasmine Smith found out she was pregnant, she told her best friend first.

That best friend was her big sister, Jontelle, who also happened to be her teammate on the St. Mary's (CA) women's basketball team.

Jontelle and Jasmine Smith were born 13 months apart. They look alike ... they sound alike ... they finish each other's sentences. They were supposed to have been born on the same day, a year apart.

Jasmine knew her big sister would have her back.

"Telling my family was the hardest thing ... ever," Jasmine Smith said. "After that, telling the coaches was easy. But telling my parents ... oh, man."

"I felt the pressure; when she told me I felt like I was having the baby," Jontelle said. "I knew however mad I could be at her, I needed to be right by her side to encourage her. She's my best friend and I knew everybody at one point wanted to kill her and I had to defend her."

Jasmine's daughter, Journie, is 10 months old now, healthy and happy and getting ready to celebrate her first Christmas. Her proud mother and her doting auntie photograph her practically on a daily basis so that they can always look at her on their cell phones.

Jasmine moved to back campus in June -- four months after giving birth -- to resume classes in summer school. Her parents told her that not returning to school was not going to be an option.

Journie is living at home with Jasmine's parents and grandmother, who moved from the Philippines to help care for the baby during the day. Journie's father is playing basketball in Australia – active in Journie's life, but a hemisphere away.

"It was really hard to go (back to school)," Jasmine said.

"She cried like a baby," Jontelle said.

Jontelle and Jasmine, who share a car, make the 25-minute drive home to Pinole most evenings during the week to be with the baby. Jasmine said she usually gets to spend around four hours with her in the evenings.

"I knew it was going to be hard. I started working out about a month after she was born. Just getting back to the groove of things, everything was hard. Simple things I knew before, it was hard to get going.''
-- Jasmine Smith "Everything is about her," Jasmine said. "I bring my homework every night and I never open my backpack."

One night, the two sisters sat and watched Journie play with a telephone for 45 minutes. Jasmine said it's difficult to leave before the baby goes to bed.

"I want to be there when she goes to sleep and when she wakes up, but I need to take care of my business at school," Jasmine said.

"It's hard for me to be away from her and I'm not even her mom," Jontelle said. "I know it's hard for her, so I try whenever I can to take her home."

Gaels coach Paul Thomas said Jasmine has grown in the last year.

"I wouldn't wish a child having a child on anyone, but she's matured beautifully," Thomas said. "It's been tough, it's been hard. We keep very close track of her. We know where Jazzie is most of the day. Her grades are improving. She's doing very well."

Jasmine is back on the court for the first time in two years. She missed the 2007-08 season after transferring from Oregon State. And then she missed last season because of her pregnancy.

Getting her basketball skills back has been a slow, but mostly steady process.

Nine games into the season, she is coming off the bench, averaging 10.8 points in a little more than 24 minutes a game.

She is as hard on herself as almost anyone. Anyone but her sister.

"I knew it was going to be hard," Jasmine said. "I started working out about a month after she was born. Just getting back to the groove of things, everything was hard. Simple things I knew before, it was hard to get going.

"Like defense. Defense was hard. She's always on me about it."

Jontelle, a starter averaging 11.8 points a game, has high expectations for her sister's play on the floor.

"I know how good a player she was," Jontelle said. "I'm always on her in practice and she says that I never say anything good to her. That's what we fought about last week in practice. I just know her potential, so I just stay on her the best I can."

Jasmine has another two years of basketball eligibility after this season. She said she plans to stay at St. Mary's until her eligibility runs out. Jontelle, a fifth-year senior, is playing her final season and will leave the campus in the spring.

"I was worried how this was going to turn out," Jasmine said. "But once Journie came, I knew it was going to be great. My family has helped me a lot. Extremely..."

"I knew it was going to be all right," Jontelle said.