SMU’s Janielle Dodds drives the lane against Marshall. (Lindsey Perkins)
Senior Janielle Dodds has broken another record at SMU after becoming the only player in SMU history to earn All-American honors from the Associated Press.
Getting a berth to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament was a dream come true for the Mustangs. Add that to two school records, a pre-season All-Conference USA selection, MVP honors in the Hoops for the Cure Tournament, first-team All-Conference USA honors in the post-season, MVP of the Conference USA Tournament and now Honorable Mention All-American recognition from the Associated Press, and it is safe to assume Dodds had a outstanding resume from her last year on the Hilltop.
“This award means a lot to me,” said Dodds. “It meant the world to me to get my team to the NCAA tournament, but I also pride myself in my individual success.”
Dodds received the recognition from the AP after leading the Mustangs to their first NCAA appearance since 2000, paving her path to success with most points in school history, as well as most career rebounds and free throws. Choosing to redshirt her freshman year in 2003, Dodds has collected 1,861 points, 974 rebounds and 478 free throws since starring in all 30 games as a freshman in 2004.
The team’s leading scorer averaged 15 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and increased her career double-double count to 38 – more than twice the career total of any other player in C-USA.
Her high scoring average also helped the Mustangs clinch 24 wins this season – SMU’s highest victory total in the program’s history.
“As a senior this year I took it upon myself to get my team to reach its success. I tried to keep everyone motivated. I reminded myself constantly that this is my last year to do this, so I didn’t want any regrets,” said Dodds.
Along with her three school records, Dodds posted 20 or more points on 11 occasions, and scored in double-digit figures in 26 games. It was a combination of her strong presence at the post and dominant scoring force that earned Dodds first-team honors in the conference.
Dodds’ strong contribution to the team started in the 2004-05 season when she earned the spot as the team’s leading scorer. Complimented as the Western Athletic Conference Newcomer recipient and earning honors to the All-WAC first team and WAC All-Freshmen team, Dodds also received recognition as a finalist for the 2005 Kodak-WBCA All-America honorable mention.
Her career continued to grow as Dodds was named an All-American candidate in her sophomore season, and was also selected as first team All-Conference USA. The team’s top scorer, averaging 15.5 points per game, acquired Conference USA Player of the Week honors, and was SMU’s representative in the Hoops for the Cure Classic All-Tournament team.
In her junior year, Dodds was named to the second-team All-C-USA selection and given a preseason All-American honorable mention. Recording her 1,000th career point against the University of Texas Arlington, Dodds moved up to eighth in scoring in the league, and seventh in free throw percentage in the league, 64th nationally.
When asked what lies ahead in the future, Dodds was uncertain about what direction she’s going to take.
“I am still contemplating playing professionally; I’ll have to make some major decisions here soon though,” explained Dodds.
After five years on the Hilltop, coping with the ending of her final season as a Mustang has also been a difficult issue for Dodds to grasp.
“It’s just weird to know that my college career is over and I’ll be joining the real world,” said Dodds. “It just feels weird when you’ve been doing it five years. Like this past week I thought to myself, I wonder when our postseason workouts start . . . then I realized there aren’t any!”
