Reading specific text question

Ok what I am trying to do is import NBA play by plays into excel (done that part) then read through them for assists in the first half.
The following is a small example of the data I'll be using

Pachulia Rebound (Off:0 Def:1)
Pachulia Layup Shot: Missed

Williams Jump Shot: Missed
Smith Rebound (Off:1 Def:0)
Smith Layup Shot: Missed
Smith Rebound (Off:2 Def:0)

Johnson Jump Shot: Made (2 PTS)
Assist: Pachulia (1 AST)

Johnson Jump Shot: Missed
Smith Layup Shot: Made (2 PTS)

Smith Rebound (Off:3 Def:0)

Williams Rebound (Off:0 Def:1)
Williams Jump Shot: Made (2 PTS)
Assist: Smith (1 AST)

Williams 3pt Shot: Made (5 PTS)
Assist: Johnson (1 AST)

Williams Rebound (Off:0 Def:2)
Williams Jump Shot: Made (7 PTS)
Assist: Childress (1 AST)

This information is in a column the other team's stats in another column.
My question is : Is there some function that will read through the text of a given column and ignore everything but a given word (AST = assist for example) then return the number of times it has found it within that column?
If not....could someone please guide me another way. Thanks in advance for any help.

This should work for you. It will count the number of occurrences of "AST" in the range A1:A26. This assumes "AST" is the three leftmost characters in a given cell. Change your range as necessary.

=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT(A1:A26,3)="AST"))