Ava Smid Does Her Best Reggie Miller Impersonation

Dallas Center-Grimes star scores six points in 11 seconds to lift team to championship.

Ava Smid of Dallas Center-Grimes drives to the basket in the quarterfinals of the Iowa girls basketball state tournament, March 3, 2026. | Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For those old enough to remember former NBA great Reggie Miller, an Iowa girls high school basketball player did her best impersonation of the Indiana Pacer star on Thursday night.

Ava Smid of Dallas Center-Grimes scored six points in a matter of 11 seconds to help propel her team to the Class 4A state championship at the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa from Casey’s Center.

The Ava Smid Game!
DCG down by 4, 35 seconds to go.
The finish will live in DCG Basketball history forever! Enjoy the final seconds of this legendary game!@DCG_GirlsBball will play for the Class 4A State Championship on Saturday! pic.twitter.com/LljLYlzDEv

— Dallas Center-Grimes (@DCGDistrict) March 6, 2026

Let us set the stage for the one-girl performance:

Down 42-38 with 32 seconds on the clock, Smid scored a bucket to make it a two-point deficit. She proceeded to steal the in-bounds pass and score immediately, tying the game at 42-all with 22 seconds remaining.

Norwalk attempted to get the ball in and away from Smid again, but failed, as she swiped it and scored another basket, putting Dallas Center-Grimes up, 44-42, with just 21 seconds on the clock.

Dallas Center-Grimes Star Scored Eight Points In 19 Seconds

Smid had also scored a basket before the flurry of points to inch the Mustangs a little closer, as they would close things out at the free throw line for a 47-42 triumph. She had eight points in 19 seconds of game time in the fourth.

“We all believe in each other,” Smid said in the post-game press conference following the incredible comeback. “There was never a doubt we would lose this game. There was no doubt in our minds.”

Smid finished with 16 points, six steals, five rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes of action, going 7 of 15 from the field.

Dallas Center-Grimes Will Play For State Title On Saturday

Dallas Center-Grimes, the No. 1 seed, will take on Carlisle Saturday afternoon for the state title. The Mustangs have won 15 games in a row and are looking for their second championship, having also won it all in 2023.

As for the Reggie Miller comparison, Miller scored eight points in nine seconds to lift the Pacers past the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1995.