SEATTLE, Wash. – True freshman Natasha Smith introduced herself to the West Region Friday. Just seven games into her collegiate career the Sheldon High School (Sacramento) product scored 21 points, dished out four assists without a turnover, and grabbed a pair of steals to lead the Chico State women’s basketball team to a 76-56 victory over Western Washington in the opening game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference/California Collegiate Athletic Association Crossover Classic being held at Royal Brougham Pavilion on the Seattle Pacific University campus.
Chico State, ranked No. 9 in the nation, led the Vikings by as many as 30 points in improving to 6-1 on the season. Western Washington dipped to 2-5 with its third straight loss.
The Wildcats will take on unbeaten Seattle Pacific (4-0) Saturday at 7 p.m. The Falcons hammered previously unbeaten Sonoma State 53-36 in Friday’s second game.
Against Western Washington, Audriana Spencer chipped in 13 points and a pair of assists to continue her climb up the school’s career scoring and assist lists. She moved past Lauren Himmelspach into eighth on the school’s career scoring list with 967. And her two assists brought her career total to 270, moving her past Joddie Vossler into fifth place.
Christine Vest scored a season-high 12 points. Renee Goldoff finished with 11 points and five rebounds. And Melissa Richardson matched her career highs in rebounds (8) and assists (7).
The game was tied 8-8 when Smith entered the game. She buried two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to key a 15-0 run that gave the Wildcats the lead for good. A Western Washington team depleted by a number of injuries hung tough, however, and trailed only 36-26 at the half.
The lead remained around 10 until Spencer, Smith, and Amanda Monteith sparked a 12-0 run with pressure defense that led to a number of steals and fast-break layups. Smith grabbed a steal and assisted on Spencer’s layup to get the run started and things snowballed from there. Spencer was next to nab a steal. She passed ahead to Smith and the give-and-go worked to perfection as Spencer finished again.
After a Monteith steal, she worked the give-and-go with Smith this time for a sudden 16-point lead. The lead continued to grow as Goldoff snatched a steal and passed ahead to Monteith, who found Spencer for a layup. Then Richardson dished to Smith on consecutive buckets, building the lead to 50-28 with 14:39 to play.
Smith added a 3-pointer and a jumper minutes later. That capped a 25-4 run in which Smith scored 11 points, four assists and a pair of steals to give Chico State its biggest lead of the night, 63-33.
The Wildcats outrebounded Western Washington 43-31, dished out a season-high 28 assists, and had 14 steals.
After Saturday’s game against SPU, the Wildcats will be off until Jan. 4 when they return home to face Cal State Monterey Bay in a CCAA contest.
Official Basketball Box Score
Chico State vs Western Washington
12/07/07 5 p.m. at Seattle, Wash.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Chico State 6-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 MONTEITH, Amanda.... f 3-5 0-0 0-0 3 0 3 1 6 1 1 0 3 12
24 SPENCER, Audriana... f 5-11 1-6 2-2 1 1 2 2 13 2 1 0 3 23
33 GOLDOFF, Renee...... c 5-11 0-0 1-2 3 2 5 1 11 0 1 1 2 17
03 SMITH-WILLIAMS, Jade g 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 2 2 4 0 0 1 20
21 RICHARDSON, Melissa. g 1-8 0-3 0-0 1 7 8 2 2 7 2 0 2 26
11 SMITH, Natasha...... 6-8 3-4 6-6 1 2 3 3 21 4 0 0 2 21
12 FOSTER, Brandi...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3
20 LYDON, Taylor....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 6
30 VON TILLOW, Jessica. 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 2 0 4 0 0 0 13
32 COLLINS, Molly...... 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 2 1 0 10
40 WASHINGTON, Ashley.. 0-1 0-0 1-2 3 1 4 3 1 0 3 0 0 10
41 EDWARDS, Cory....... 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 4 1 3 0 1 17
42 VEST, Christine..... 6-8 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 2 12 3 2 1 0 22
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 31-70 4-15 10-12 17 26 43 21 76 28 17 3 14 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-35 37.1% 2nd Half: 18-35 51.4% Game: 44.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 26.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 87.5% 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 83.3% 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Western Washington 2-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 Holgate,Tara........ 6-10 0-0 2-3 1 4 5 0 14 1 0 1 1 23
10 Dunbar,Amanda....... 3-9 0-2 5-5 0 5 5 2 11 4 6 0 2 28
15 Lersch,Krista....... 1-3 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 3 3 3 1 1 0 19
20 Schramm,Kristin..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 5
21 McBride,Kaitlin..... 3-6 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 6 0 2 0 0 16
30 Hefflin,Lauren...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 1 1 11
32 Schramm,Sarah....... 4-8 0-1 1-3 0 4 4 1 9 2 1 1 0 25
33 Moehrle,Marelle..... 2-7 1-3 0-0 2 0 2 1 5 4 4 0 0 27
42 Wade,Gabby.......... 0-1 0-0 2-4 3 4 7 0 2 2 2 0 1 21
50 Pallansch,Claire.... 2-6 0-0 0-0 0 5 5 3 4 0 1 1 1 25
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 22-53 1-7 11-17 8 23 31 16 56 16 21 5 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0% 2nd Half: 12-28 42.9% Game: 41.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 0-3 0.0% Game: 14.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 71.4% 2nd Half: 6-10 60.0% Game: 64.7% 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Karen Lasvic, Joann Sather, Rae Ann Johnson
Technical fouls: Chico State-None. Western Washington-None.
Attendance: 126
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Chico State................... 36 40 - 76
Western Washington............ 26 30 - 56
