December 3, 2008
San Antonio – St. Mary’s University women’s basketball player Natalie Gamez was named Heartland Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the second straight week, it was announced by the league office on Wednesday.
Gamez (Sr., San Antonio) followed up her player of the week honor for the first week of the season with an even better second week, helping the Rattlers to a perfect 3-0 record. For the week she averaged 22.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks, while shooting 57.5 percent from the field and a sizzling 56.3 percent from three-point range.
She started the week with 21 points, seven rebounds and five blocks against Huston-Tillotson. She followed that up with 15 points and eight rebounds against Texas A&M-Commerce last Friday. On Saturday she scored a career-high 31 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. She added 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
Gamez has scored in double figures in all seven games this season, including three games with 20 or more points. For the season Gamez leads the Rattlers with 19.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. She is hitting on 47.8 percent of her shots from the field, including 52.4 percent from three-point range. She leads the Heartland Conference in scoring, three-pointers made and three-point shooting percentage this season.
St. Mary’s is 6-1 overall with their two wins over the week at the St. Mary’s Thanksgiving Classic. The Rattlers have won four games in a row and 29 of their last 30 regular season games heading into this week’s play. St. Mary’s will return to action on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the first round of the Arkansas-Monticello Classic.