WHITNEY SMITH NAMED E8 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Jan. 8, 2007) -- Whitney Smith, a freshman forward on the Nazareth College women's basketball team, has been named Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Week for the seven-day period that ended Jan. 8, 2007. It marks the third time this season that Smith has been honored as the Empire 8's top rookie.

A native of Webster, N.Y. and a graduate Webster Thomas High School, Smith scored 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as Nazareth split a pair of conference games over the weekend. She scored a game-high 17 points to go with 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals in last Friday's 66-54 win over Alfred. She added a team-high 13 points with six rebounds and four assists in a 69-61 loss to St. John Fisher on Saturday.

Smith leads the Golden Flyers in scoring for 2006-07 at 12.3 points per game. She also ranks second in rebounding at 6.2 per game.

Nazareth, 4-6 overall, resumes its season Tuesday as the eighth seeded for the annual JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament. The Golden Flyers travel to Keuka for a first-round game against top-seeded Rochester (11-0) at 6:15 p.m.