College basketball star arrested and accused of dealing drugs in a high school parking lot
A North Carolina college basketball star has been arrested and accused of dealing drugs in a high school parking lot, an arrest warrant has revealed.
Paige Marie Smith, 20, was arrested last Tuesday, February 10, and charged with “felony possession of marijuana, possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, and maintaining a vehicle for controlled substances,” reported local news channel WECT, which obtained the police documents.
Smith also faces charges for “manufacturing, selling, delivering or possessing controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a school and possessing marijuana paraphernalia,” the station added.
According to the arrest warrant from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, Smith was smoking cannabis inside her car while parked outside Brogden Hall during a New Hanover High School basketball game. Marijuana possession of any quantity remains a felony in North Carolina.
She was in possession of a large quantity of the drug that was packed for delivery and distribution, the court documents said, and a gun was also in the vehicle when Smith was arrested, although it did not belong to her.
Smith is enrolled as a pre-psychology major at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and has been enrolled at the school since June 2025, according to a statement from the college to local media.
The suspect is considered a star player on UNCW’s Seahawks women’s basketball team and was being celebrated as one of two “Players of the Game” just a week before her arrest.
“Paige is someone that checks all the boxes for us,” said UNCW women’s basketball head coach Nicole Woods when she added Smith to the Seahawks backcourt as a junior for the 2025-26 season.
Smith was described at the time as a 5’7” native of Hagerstown, Maryland, who had previously “spent the 2024-25 season in her home state at CCBC Essex in Baltimore, one of the nation’s top NJCAA programs.”
In the previous season, 2023-24, Smith started all 24 games as a freshman at Frederick Community College, averaging 36.8 minutes and 23.2 points. She shot 41.7% from the field, made 63 three-pointers, according to the player summary, and scored 20 or more points in 19 contests, including a streak of 12 straight.
“We were looking for a three-level scorer and someone who played with an extra chip on her shoulders,” Woods said at the time. “We found it in Paige, and I’m excited about the next three years.”
Smith’s profile has now been removed from UNCW’s sports website, and the university confirmed in its media statement that she has been serving a program suspension from the basketball team since Monday, February 9, the day before she was arrested.
“Consistent with our commitment to student privacy and the integrity of ongoing processes, UNCW will not offer additional comment,” the university said in the statement, which was reported by local news channel WWAY.
A week after her arrest, Seahawks shirts, caps, and hoodies displaying Smith’s name and player number were still available to buy from Athletes Thread, a website for officially licensed merchandise.
Smith has no prior criminal record.
