Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair didn't get his elusive first hole-in-one in the Byron Nelson Championship's Celebrity Pro-Am on Tuesday, but while playing golf he added one of the best junior-college players in the country.

Tanisha Smith, a 6-foot guard who led the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith to a third-place finish at the NJCAA Division I Tournament, signed with the Aggies over Georgia, Cincinnati and Kentucky.

"The big thing is they're in the Big 12," Smith said. "I'm from Kansas City, which is surrounded by Big 12 schools. It will give my family the opportunity to see me play."

Smith signed with the University of Arkansas out of Lincoln College Prep Academy. She played in 30 games as a freshman at Arkansas, starting 13. She averaged 6.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 17.9 minutes per game.

"I left for a lot of reasons," Smith said. "But mainly, I wanted to get my confidence back."

She did that by averaging 18.2 ppg and 5.2 rpg for the 34-2 Lady Lions. She added 104 steals and 106 assists while also hitting 71 of 174 3-pointers.

"At the beginning of the year she believed she was one of the best players in the country," Fort Smith head coach Louis Whorton said. "And by the end of the year, she knew she was one of the best players in the country."

A&M's pursuit of Smith was aided by first-year Aggie assistant coach Johnnie Harris, who had recruited her to Arkansas.

"I know what she is all about," Smith said. "The relationship with the coaching staff was a big factor."

Smith said A&M recruited her to play offguard or small forward, but she can play the point or post up inside.

Smith said A&M's passion for playing defense and aggressive style fit her game.

"Coach Blair doesn't play a zone," Smith said. "He plays man-to-man straight up. That's their game."

A&M, which reached the Elite Eight for the first time in school history, suffered big losses on the perimeter. Point guard A'Quonesia Franklin, a four-year starter, and guard/forward Morenike Atunrase, who was the Big 12 Conference's Sixth Man Award winner, are gone. Senior guard Katy Pounds was forced to take a medical redshirt before last season, and senior point guard LaToya Gulley was lost to an injury midway through the season. Sophomore guard/forward Adrian McGowen quit the team just before the season started.

"Tanisha gives us a high-power offensive player that fits the mold of all of the successful perimeter players that have played in our system," Blair said. "She will help us ease the burden of losing Morenike Atunrase to graduation and to the WNBA. Tanisha can play all three perimeter positions and gives us versatility that opponents will not know where and who will line up at the two, three and four positions. She is a shot blocker that can run the floor like a track star."

Smith completes A&M's incoming class for the 2008-09 season, joining DeSoto 5-6 guard Sydney Carter, Cedar Hill 5-9 guard Skylar Collins, Alief Elsik 6-1 forward Adaora Elonu and 6-1 forward Kelsey Assarian of Barron Collier High School in Naples, Fla.

Smith is the second straight standout the Aggies have added from Kansas City. Redshirt freshman Tyra White was a McDonald's All-American at Hickman Mills. White said she played against White in high school and AAU.

• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.