January 28, 2009
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 third time this season, it was announced by the league office on Wednesday.
Gamez (Sr., San Antonio) had her best two-game stretch of the week, leading St. Mary’s to wins over Texas A&M-International and Incarnate Word. For the week she averaged 27.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.0 three-pointers, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game. She hit on 52.9 percent of her shots from the field, including 47.6 percent from three-point range.
Against Texas A&M-International on Thursday she made 9-of-18 shots from the field, including 5-of-13 from long range to score a game-high 29 points. She also pulled down six rebounds and dished out five assists. She followed that up with 25 points, nine rebounds and four assists against Incarnate Word.
For the season she is averaging 18.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game. She is hitting on 44.6 percent of her shots from the field, including a Heartland Conference best 44.7 percent from three-point range. She is also averaging 2.5 three-pointers made per game. She has scored in double figures in 16 of 18 games this season, including nine games with 20 or more points.
In her career Gamez has played in 102 games and already ranks among the best in school history in several categories. Her 1356 points scored is the fourth most in a career and she is just 35 points behind Susan Carter, who is ranked third currently. Her 163 three-pointers made is already a school record. She is one of the top free throw shooters in school history, with 349 made, which ranks second all-time and is third in school history, making 82.9 percent of her shots from the free throw line.
Gamez and the 25th-ranked Rattlers are currently 16-2 overall and 5-0 in Heartland Conference play this season. They will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Odessa to play the University of Texas of the Permian Basin at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a women’s/men’s doubleheader. St. Mary’s next home game will be on Thursday, Feb. 12, when the Rattlers will face Oklahoma Panhandle State University at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a women’s/men’s doubleheader.