A North Carolina college basketball star has been taken into custody and accused of dealing drugs in a high school parking lot, according to an arrest warrant.
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,” according to local news channel WECT, which received the police documents.
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Smith is also charged with “manufacturing, selling, delivering, or possessing controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a school and possessing marijuana paraphernalia,” according to the station.
According to the arrest warrant issued by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, Smith was using cannabis in her car while parked outside Brogden Hall during a New Hanover High School basketball game. Marijuana possession in any amount remains a felony in North Carolina.
According to court documents, Smith was in possession of a large quantity of the narcotic, which was packaged for delivery and distribution, and a gun was also found in the vehicle when she was detained, though it did not belong to her.
Smith is a pre-psychology major at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and has been there since June 2025, according to a college statement released to local media.
The suspect, a star player on UNCW’s women’s basketball team, was honored as one of two “Players of the Game” a week before her arrest.
“Paige is someone that checks all of the boxes for us,” said UNCW women’s basketball head coach Nicole Woods, who added Smith to the Seahawks’ backcourt as a junior for the 2025-26 campaign.
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 near Baltimore, one of the nation’s top NJCAA programs.”
Smith started all 24 games for Frederick Community College as a freshman in 2023-24, averaging 36.8 minutes and 23.2 points. According to the player summary, she shot 41.7% from the field and made 63 three-pointers. She also scored 20 or more points in 19 games, including a 12-game streak.
“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 been removed from UNCW’s sports website, and the institution has verified in a media statement that she has been suspended from the basketball team since Monday, February 9, the day before her arrest.
“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 sweatshirts with Smith’s name and player number were still available for purchase on Athletes Thread, an officially licensed apparel website.
Smith has no prior criminal history.
