Philadelphia basketball phenom close to breaking points record set in 1996

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia basketball phenom Shayla Smith is scoring her way into the local record books.

The high schooler has already surpassed the greats like Dawn Staley.

Now Shayla is a couple of games and layups away from eclipsing title holder Shawnetta Stewart's 2,501 high school career points.

With over 2,200 points in her high school career as on Monday, and eyeing 2,500, Smith isn't just breaking city records, she's rewriting the playbook.

"It's probably not going to hit me until I graduate," said Smith.

With some regular season games left, playoffs and hopefully going to state, the Universal Audenreid High School in Grays Ferry is standing on the precipice of Stewart's record of 2501 points set in 1996.

Smith admits she hit a slump at the beginning of this season.

"I had a few games that I was missing shots. And I was like, 'I don't think I'm going to get the record,'" she recalled.

"Are those slumps real?" asked Action News' Christie Ileto.

"That's a real thing! Sometimes you shoot the ball the same way and it just goes in and comes out, hit the backboard, roll around and come out," Smith said.

How did she get over it?

"My coaches. They just said to keep shooting. The only way to get out of a slump is to keep shooting," said Smith.

The senior has secured herself a spot to play at Penn State next year while spotlighting the program that's allowed her to shine.

She's putting Universal Audenreid on the map.

"Thirty, forty years ago this school was not known for what we're doing now," said Kevin Slaughter, head coach for the girl's basketball team.

"There's just so many different programs here, and kids are like prospering here," he added.