2005-06 OCAA FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR - NATASHA THOMBS

Natasha Thombs, a third-year guard on the Seneca College women's basketball team becomes the second Seneca athlete to claim the OCAA athlete of the year award.

Natasha enjoyed one of her best seasons in her three-year career at Seneca this past season. Over her storybook career, Natasha has averaged 14.9 points per game (PPG) highlighted by a career-high 19.1 PPG average this season. Maybe more impressive of her statistical performance on the court has been her resiliency and dedication to the women's basketball program at Seneca, as she has played in every game of her three-year career.

This past season, Natasha was the driving force of Seneca's outstanding success in women's basketball. Natasha averaged six steals, six assists and seven rebounds per game and was second in overall scoring. The Sting finished the year with a 15-1 league record en route to winning the OCAA championship title and finishing fifth at the CCAA championship with an overall 32-5 record.

Individually Natasha is a CCAA all-Canadian, OCAA women's basketball player of the year, CCAA championship second-team all-star, OCAA championship MVP, three-time OCAA all-star and OCAA athlete of the week.

"Natasha's athleticism and intensity has made her a dominant force in not just the OCAA but in the CCAA," said Seneca head coach Marcy Skribe. "Her unconscious ability to score and her lightning-quick speed has shown that she can compete against the best college players in the country."

Coincidentally Natasha's basketball coach was the first-ever basketball player to win the OCAA female athlete of the year award. Marcy won the award in 1996-97 as an athlete at Durham College.

"I would just like to thank everybody who has been part of this memorable season. I have not only grown as an athlete, but as a person as well," commented Thombs. "I owe it all to my teammates, coaches, Seneca's athletic director and staff, friends, family and all the Seneca fans who have come out to support us."