College Basketball Star Faces Serious Drug Charges After High School Parking Lot Arrest
Paige Marie Smith, a 20-year-old standout basketball player for the University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks, has been arrested and charged with multiple drug-related felonies following an incident in a high school parking lot. According to arrest warrants obtained by local media, Smith was taken into custody on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, and now faces significant legal consequences that have derailed her promising athletic career.
Details of the Arrest and Charges
The New Hanover County Sheriff's Office arrest warrant reveals that Smith was smoking cannabis inside her vehicle while parked outside Brogden Hall during a New Hanover High School basketball game. Authorities discovered a substantial quantity of marijuana packaged for distribution within the car, along with drug paraphernalia. Although a firearm was also present in the vehicle at the time of arrest, police confirmed it did not belong to Smith.
Smith faces multiple serious charges including felony possession of marijuana, possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, and maintaining a vehicle for controlled substances. Additional charges relate to manufacturing, selling, delivering, or possessing controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a school—a particularly serious offense given the location of her arrest. Under North Carolina law, any amount of marijuana possession remains a felony offense.
Rapid Fall from Grace for Promising Athlete
Just one week before her arrest, Smith had been celebrated as one of two "Players of the Game" for the UNCW Seahawks women's basketball team. Head coach Nicole Woods had previously praised Smith as "someone that checks all the boxes for us" when recruiting her as a junior for the 2025-26 season. The coach had specifically highlighted Smith's scoring ability and competitive mentality, expressing excitement about her potential over the next three years.
Smith's athletic credentials were impressive: a 5'7" guard from Hagerstown, Maryland, she had previously played at CCBC Essex in Baltimore during the 2024-25 season after starting all 24 games as a freshman at Frederick Community College in 2023-24. During that standout freshman year, she averaged 36.8 minutes and 23.2 points per game, demonstrating significant scoring prowess with 20 or more points in 19 contests.
University Response and Ongoing Consequences
The University of North Carolina Wilmington has responded swiftly to the situation, confirming that Smith has been serving a program suspension from the basketball team since Monday, February 9—the day before her arrest. The university has removed Smith's player profile from its official sports website and issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to student privacy and the integrity of ongoing processes.
"Consistent with our commitment to student privacy and the integrity of ongoing processes, UNCW will not offer additional comment," the university stated to local media. Despite her suspension and legal troubles, merchandise featuring Smith's name and player number remained available for purchase on the officially licensed Athletes Thread website a week after her arrest.
Smith, who is enrolled as a pre-psychology major at UNCW and has been attending the university since June 2025, has no prior criminal record according to available information. The case continues to develop as legal proceedings move forward, casting a shadow over what had been a promising collegiate basketball career.
