ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The basketball doesn't bounce far from it, either.

Kylee Smith, youngest daughter of Butler graduates and hoop greats Mark and Jody Imbrie Smith, has accepted a full scholarship to Vanderbilt University.

“I grew up learning about all of their accomplishments at Butler and Grove City,” Kylee said of her parents. “My parents inspired me. They worked with me. I wanted to be like them.

“I played all the sports when I was younger. Basketball is the choice I made.”

Smith has been at Vanderbilt since June 1, taking early classes and working out with the team. The 5-foot-11 shooting guard scored 2,175 points at Alpharetta (Ga.) High School — the first in school history to do so — and ranks 10th on Georgia's all-time women's basketball scoring list.

“That was pretty early, when we knew she'd be something special in basketball,” Mark Smith said. “Even when she was 6 and 7 years old, Kylee was full of intensity on the court.

“She'd jump out from her defensive stance, steal the ball from boys and girls alike, and drive it down the other end of the floor.”

Mark Smith scored 839 points in his Butler basketball career, then tallied 1,171 to rank 12th all-time at Grove City College. His parents, Joe and Karen Smith, still live in Butler.

Smith's wife, Jody, scored 1,252 points at Butler and is GCC's all-time leading scorer with 2,218 points.

Jody was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. Mark was inducted in 2004.

“Mark and I are basketball junkies,” Jody said. “We go to a lot of games, watch a lot of games on TV. Kylee watched enough basketball with us that she could recognize a pick and roll as a small child.

“We always hoped our kids would play and take interest in it, but we exposed them to everything. We wanted them to follow their own paths.”

Oldest daughter Kara scored 975 points in high school and went on to play Division III college ball in Maryland briefly before transferring to Georgia State, concentrating on her studies. Their son, Erik, is a senior engineering major at Georgia Tech who played lacrosse in high school.

Mark and Jody Smith coach youth basketball in Georgia. Jody helped coach Kylee through eighth grade.

“Kara is five years older than her, yet Kara's high school coach let Kylee come on the floor and practice with Kara's team,” Jody recalled. “She was at most of her sister's practices back then. There's no doubt that helped her.”

“When she was in fourth grade, she played on the sixth-grade team,” Mark Smith said. “In sixth and seventh grade, she played on the freshman team. Kylee always played up in age.”

The Smith family has more than a basketball hoop set up in the driveway. They have all of the lines and official court measurements spray-painted on there as well.

“I've been able to practice my foul shooting and other drills,” Kylee said. “My mom and dad and I, we've played one-on-one quite a bit out there. We never kept score. It was all in fun.

“The extra instruction and tips I've gotten from them on the side have always been helpful. They were in the gym for all of my games and they helped there, too.”

Smith also received full scholarship offers from Georgia Tech, Auburn and Richmond. Georgia and Florida State were also interested.

But her heart was set on Vanderbilt, where she had attended basketball camps. The Commodores are enjoying a current streak of 14 consecutive 20-plus win seasons and have been frequent participants in the NCAA Tournament.

Smith joins fellow guard Rebekah Dahlman of Minnesota and Marques Webb, a forward from Alabama, in giving Vanderbilt one of the nation's top 10 recruiting classes, according to ESPN.

ESPN ranks Dahlman as the 16th best overall recruit in the nation. She became the first girls basketball player in Minnesota history to score 5,000 points in a prep career.

Webb averaged 15.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game in high school and was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Alabama. ESPN ranks her the 21st best recruit.

“I'd love to start right away. I'm going to work toward that, but it will be tough,” Smith said. “Besides the three of us, there's six pretty solid sophomores coming back. We'll be a young team that will develop together and that's exciting.”

ESPN ranks Smith the 62nd best player and 14th best guard recruit in the country.

“It's been more enjoyable watching our kids grow, develop and play sports than it was when I actually played,” Mark said. “It's definitely more nerve-wracking, though.

“When I was on the court, I could take care of business myself. You can't do that from the stands.”

His wife couldn't decide whether it was more fun playing than it is watching.

“That's such a tough question because I had so much fun playing,” she said. “The experiences I had with my teammates, all of the traveling, I wouldn't trade that for anything.

“Now my daughter is very happy at Vanderbilt and she's experiencing and making her own memories in the sport. That's very rewarding to me.”