In 1890, Smith College built a large, well-equipped gymnasium to offer physical education to young women to go along with its rigorous academic requirements. The college then hired a 23-year-old Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, Senda Berenson, as its first physical education teacher. Berenson soon realized her routines of Swedish gymnastics bored her students, so she searched for alternatives. In the YMCA publication Physical Education, she read about a new game invented by James Naismith in nearby Springfield. In March 1892, Berenson suspended two waste paper baskets from the gym’s ceiling and handed her students a soccer ball, thereby introducing American women for the first time to the game of basketball.
On March 22, 1893, she organized the first women’s college basketball game between the sophomore class of 1895 and the first-year class of 1896 at Smith’s Alumnae Gymnasium. The entire college turned out “with class colors and banners waving,” students “cheering and screaming,” reported one student in a letter to her mother. Noticeably absent from the crowd, however, were men — because it was considered inappropriate for men to see women wearing bloomers in public. Newspapers covered the match with shocked curiosity. Meanwhile, medical professionals issued dire warnings: “Team athletics unfit women for companionship with men, for marriage, and for motherhood. It makes them old before their time, hard, weary, nervously exhausted, irritable.” Nevertheless, Smithies played on, and basketball soon became a popular game among women of the early 20th century. (Smith archivists made a short film about this amazing history at bit.ly/SmithBasketball).
Fast forward 133 years, Smith now has a national powerhouse basketball team led by head basketball coach Lynn Hersey, who says Smith’s history inspires her. “I have a lot of passion about Smith being the birthplace of women’s basketball. We wouldn’t have today without Senda. There is a kind of responsibility to that history and a vision for putting Smith at the very top of that journey today.”
Last year, the Smith Basketball team reached the Division III National Championship for the second consecutive year and won the NEWMAC championship for the fifth year in a row. Currently, the team is undefeated seven games into the season and is ranked No. 3 in the nation. Hersey’s line-up is full of young talent, passionate and excited at the possibility of winning the National Championship this year. Before the season even started, D3hoops.com named Hannah Martin (junior, North Andover, Mass.) a third team Preseason All-American. Martin is one of the captains, joined by Selam Maher (senior, St. Louis Park, Minn.), Maggie Fleming (junior, Downers Grove, Ill.) and Ella Sylvester (senior, Everett, Wash.). Junior guard Felicia Fongemie (Ashford, Conn./Marianapolis Prep), a junior transfer from Wesleyan University, is leading the team in scoring (15.0 points per game) and ranks second in the country in field goal percentage (64.4%).
The team is not only a powerhouse on the court but also inspires the next generation of players. On Oct. 26, 2025, Smith hosted local girls from kindergarten through eighth grade for a free two-hour-long clinic, followed by an open practice. Smith players provided one-on-one coaching to the youth, focusing on the fundamentals and encouraging competition.
The event was part of the team’s Playmakers Club, which began in the summer of 2024. The club offers leadership development and self-confidence-building workshops, basketball skills clinics, the opportunity to scrimmage at halftime during Smith home games, and other fun and impactful activities — all free of charge — to over 200 local girls.
“To be able to give back is so fulfilling for us,” said Smith player Selam Maher of the Playmakers Club. “To mentor them and bring them joy because they bring us joy, especially during games. Being able to not just talk basketball and help coach them up on the court, but also coach them up on how to be bold leaders, how to be able to be hard workers in whatever their desires are, empowering these kids to be confident.”
The excitement about women’s basketball reaches well beyond Smith. Nationally, the sport is having a record-breaking season in viewership and visibility. Across 25 regular-season games, WNBA on ESPN networks averaged 1.3 million viewers, up 6% year-over-year, which marked the most-watched WNBA regular season on its network. The WNBA All-Star Game reeled in 3.44 million viewers — the most-watched WNBA program in ESPN history. Standout athletes like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and others are filling arenas, drawing expanded media attention, and winning strong TV ratings. “Everyone’s Watching Women’s Sports” has gone viral on social media, and fans packing WNBA stadiums across the country proudly wear T-shirts emblazoned with the meme.
Women’s basketball today is more than just a sport: It’s a platform for empowerment and visibility, pushing back against outdated stereotypes about women and athletics.
This year, Smith adopted a new mascot: Senda the Bear, inspired by Senda Berenson, the Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who started it all right here in Northampton at Smith College in 1892 with two baskets, a soccer ball, and the knowledge that women can do anything that men can do — and do it just as well.
Smith College Basketball is hosting a Holiday Tournament beginning on Tuesday, Dec. 30, with Smith playing Husson University at 2 p.m., followed by a matchup against The College of New Jersey on Wednesday, Dec. 31, at 4 p.m.
Carrie N. Baker is a professor in the Program for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Smith College and a regular contributor to Ms. Magazine. Ada Hendrickson is a Smith College senior majoring in Sociology and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She is also a member of the Smith field hockey team.