Jackie Stiles is chasing the all-time career scoring mark at SMS.

Oh, and a better shooter, as well. That is, from the free-throw line, from the paint and from the perimeter.

So after Stiles suffered a broken wrist as a high school sophomore, she decided to get back on track -- by making 1,000 shots a day.

"It was pretty tough to get the strength back in the wrist, but I was determined to be better than I was before the injury," Stiles said recently during a chat with ESPN.com. "So I started making 1,000 shots a day."

Sometimes the workout lasted two hours, and sometimes stretched to four, but now, five years later, the work is paying off. Stiles, a junior at Southwest Missouri State, is the nation's top scorer in Division I women's college basketball.

Stiles, who also is closing in the SMS all-time career scoring mark, let us in on her training regimen, and also told us what she'd like to do with her future -- and where she'd like to be come April 2.

If you missed Stiles' chat, check out the edited transcript below.

Jackie Stiles: Hi. I'm Jackie Stiles. And I'm online for any questions anyone wants to ask me. Let's get started.

Uncle Mike: Jackie, You've always known how to score. It appears that this has been your "breakthrough" year in stepping up your defense, moving without the ball on offense, and passing when surrounded. Were these skills more of a focus for you on the last off-season?

Jackie Stiles: Hey, Uncle Mike. How are you doing? Well, definitely my defensive game is something I've always wanted to improve. Coming here, that was definitely probably my weakest aspect of my game. I knew coach (Cheryl) Burnett was defensive-minded, and would push me to become a better defensive player, and I know I have a long way to go, but I'm still working to improve it. It was one of the biggest things I worked on this summer.

David Banderman: What are your plans after Southwest Missouri State? Will you enter the WNBA draft? Are there any particular team(s) you would like to play for? Will your height limit you or force you to change your game in the pros?

Jackie Stiles: Definitely one of my biggest goals would be to play in the WNBA. I can't think of a better career ... getting played to play basketball, that's what I love to do. I know I've got a lot of things to work on and a lot of ways to go, but hopefully I'll get that chance, and it doesn't matter what team. Just anywhere they give me the opportunity to play and I'll gladly accept it. I think since I've played both the one and two guard, I need to change more to a point guard in the pros because of my height. Two guards in the pros are getting pretty tall these days, so I think I might be better suited to play a point ... if I get the shot.

Elaine: I am from Marshfield, Missouri, and a season-ticket holder of the SMSU Lady Bears. Did it scare you as much as it did we fans when you went down injured in that game a few weeks back? Other than the broken arm in high school, have you suffered any other serious injuries in your lifetime? Thanks.

Jackie Stiles: It definitely was very scary going down in the Wichita game. It was pretty painful -- and I don't handle any injuries very well because I can't stand missing practice or maybe even missing a game. That would drive me crazy. But luckily nothing was broken (it was a bone bruise) and I've been able to play through it with a lot of treatment. So I was lucky.

Besides the broken wrist, which I suffered when I was a sophomore in high school, I haven't had any other serious injuries ... a little tendinitis in the knee, but nothing serious that's kept me out. Knock on wood.

THE LATEST STILES

Stiles opened the season with a bang, pouring in 32 points in a season-opening victory over Northwestern State. A month later against Missouri-Kansas City, Stiles scored a season-high 43 points, including seven 3-pointers, and made a career-best seven steals. Through 15 games, Stiles is shooting 49.1 percent from the field, 48.4 percent from 3-point range and 83.8 percent from the foul line. As a sophomore, Stiles garnered first team All-America honors from the Women's Basketball News Service and third team All-America accolades from the Associated Press and The Women's Basketball Journal after ranking second in NCAA Division I scoring with 25.7 points per game. And after leading SMS to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and the MVC regular-season title, Stiles also became the first sophomore in MVC history to be named Player of the Year, as well as the conference's first player to score 1,000 points before her junior season. She also shot 55 percent from the field and scored 40 or more points in three gamses, including a school-record 52 points at Baylor, which tied the 12th highest single-game mark in NCAA women's history.

smsfan: Jackie, What do you think it will take for the Lady Bears to advance deeper into the NCAA Tourn. like in the early and mid 1990's. How close do you think this team is to making a legitimate shot at a final four?

Jackie Stiles: Right now we're on a quite a roll in the conference, starting out 7-0. And we just have to take one game at a time and just everyday in practice, work hard to improve on our weaknesses and become an all-around better team. And hopefully we'll get a chance to be in the NCAA Tournament again. I've been disappointed with the way we've finished the past two years. I definitely believe there's a chance we can get to the Final Four, which is a dream of mine. Hopefully we can get there, but right now we're just focused on conference.

Matthew and Jessica Clarke: Jackie -- We are from Great Bend, and watched you a lot at Claflin. You are the best. We play ball in grade school and middle school. How old were you when you started your own serious workouts, other than coach's practice?

Jackie Stiles: My dad is a basketball coach, and I can remember having the ball in my hands around 3 or 4. And then he entered me into a camp when I was about 7 years old, and even before that he was already showing me ball-handling fundamentals. And even before that, I can remember following him into the gym -- he coached men's varsity high school basketball. And I'd shoot on the side goals all the time while they were practicing, and he was always working with me.

When I really started getting serious about developing workouts was after I attended my first AAU tournament when I was about 12. It just happened that an SMS assistant was there recruiting, and happened to talk to my dad, and told him if I kept working, I could one day maybe play Division I basketball. Until then, my goal had been just to walk on to a Division I program, but that really opened my eyes. If I kept working and developed my game, I could earn a scholarship to a D-I program. So that's what I worked for.

Teresa: Jackie, you are having a great season, both with your individual accomplishments AND as a team player. You are a joy to watch! Who inspired you when you were growing up? Who are your heroes and/or heroines in the world of sports?

Jackie Stiles: Thank you for your comments. First of all, my dad, Pat, inspired me to start playing basketball by just showing me the game and getting me involved in it at an early age. But I'd have to say that after attending camps at SMS, which was right after they they made it to the Final Four, Melody Howard became one of my idols, somebody I looked up to. I just wanted to be half as good as her someday.

Sherry Haithcock: Jackie -- I was on the WBCA High School All-America Selection Committee, and I just wanted to let you know that I have followed your collegiate career with a lot of interest. Congratulations on your success and continued good luck! What one piece of advice would you give to a high school player today?

Jackie Stiles: Thanks, Sherry, for following my career. I appreciate it.

I think the number one thing I'd tell a high school player: You can accomplish anything you want as long as you work at it. I believe that's the reason I've gotten where I'm at today, because of my work ethic.

Barbara: Hi Jackie. Watching you shoot baskets is half the fun of the games. How did you feel about being double teamed last week?

Jackie Stiles: I thought it was pretty wild. In high school I saw some pretty crazy defenses. And then in college I started in seeing some box-and-ones, triangle-and-twos, and some random double teams, but never have I been doubled every possession down the floor, and also, if I got a step on the double team, another player would be right there. So sometimes I was facing three players.

But the great thing about being in college is my teammates are great and they can all score. And so it's tough for teams to do that kind of defense because my teammates can make them pay by making those shots.

Jillian Hocking: Jackie -- I saw you play in high school, and I heard many times from your coach at Claflin that you had the opportunity to go to a lot larger Division I schools. What made you choose Southwest Missouri State?

Jackie Stiles: They started recruiting me very early ... they were the first ones. I ended up coming here five years in a row for their summer basketball camps, from the time I was 12. And I just really got to know the coaching staff and the program they run here and I knew coach Burnett was a coach that would push me and make me become the best basketball coach I could possible become. That's what I wanted in a coach, someone who would bring the best out of me and challenge me everyday in practice to get better. Also, the way they draw fans down here, having 8,000 a game, is an incredible atmosphere, which is another thing I was looking for.

Randy Eagleman: Is SMSU getting the national recognition it deserves?

Jackie Stiles: I think sometimes we have to work a lot harder to get some of the national attention, maybe because of our name. But as we keep being successful and winning basketball games, we have been getting some more of the national media, which has been great because it's a great atmosphere down here and you really want people to see what's going on down here in Springfield, Missouri, because of what they've done for women's basketball. It's something you have to see for yourself.

Barbara Austin: Which schedule do you prefer: several games played in just a few days, or having them more spread out?

Jackie Stiles: I probably prefer having games spread out, with not too many practices in between. I think you start to lose your edge and get a little sluggish when you practice for a week straight without having a game, because nothing can really simulate a game in practice. But then it's hard to play two and three games in a row, like you have to do in tournaments, because you can't really prepare for other team as well as you'd like. So I definitely like a balanced, maybe 2-3 days in between games, which has worked out pretty well.

Brian G.: Do you still try and make 1,000 shots a day?

Jackie Stiles: I developed a 1,000-shot routine right after I broke my right wrist in high school. It was pretty tough to get the strength back in the wrist, but I was determined to be better than I was before the injury. So I started making 1,000 shots a day (I missed a few days because I was a four-sport athlete), and I did that all the way up until I got to college. Coach Burnett then started monitoring my workouts because she said if you keep that pace you're going to hit the wall in the middle of conference because college is so much more intense and the schedule is so much more rigorous with the traveling. And so she developed a workout that also works me at a pace that's much more similar to games. I did a lot of standing when I was just aiming to make 1,000 shots, so she developed a shorter workout that is much harder and more intense. It's really helped me adjust to the college game.

But in high school, I used a toss-back if I didn't have a rebounder ... it was tough to find somebody who would rebound a thousand makes for me. But it usually took four hours with a toss-back, and about two hours with a rebounder.

Dan Taylor: Jackie, You and Tara work so well together...how do you feel about her play this past games?

Jackie Stiles: (Junior guard) Tara Mitchem has been such a huge key for us with the way she has played in conference play. She's been a great outside scorer, hitting jump shots off the pass, and then also getting in the lane and finishing shots and getting to the free throw line. And it's taken a lot of pressure off me by the way she's scoring points. It makes it tough for the defense to have to concentrate on me when she's taking shots like that.

That's all the time we have for now. I've got to get to class. I want to thank all the people who wrote in their questions. We really appreciate all the support here at SMS. Go SMS. I hope to see 8,000 fans on this little home stand coming up.