Without a lot of size this season the Chico State women's basketball team has had to rely on it's speed and quickness. Lately, head coach Brian Fogel has turned to some local talent off his bench to help push the cats speed attack on the hardwood.
There's a reason you see the bright smile across the face of Caressa Williams at practice.
"The last four games, Caressa Williams, without a doubt has created a great spark off the bench for us," said Fogel.
For Williams, it's been a long time coming. Throughout this season she's spent the majority of her time on the bench cheering for her teammates and waiting for the chance to play.
"Sitting there it was really frustrating for me to have to watch for that long, but it was probably the best for me because I needed to watch and learn," said Williams.
Lately, patience has paid off and hard work has given her more playing time. On Saturday night, Williams spent 24 minutes on the floor, and she rewarded coach Fogel with career highs of 14 points and 7 rebounds as Chico State beat Humboldt State 90-67.
"She's like the energizer bunny, I mean she's got that energy where she just keeps going and going and going, so it's nice," said Fogel.
Williams' recent success certainly hasn't gone unnoticed in her hometown of Paradise. over the weekend, Caressa says she made some new friends at a grocery store."
"I got a lot of support. I went back home and I went to the store and people were like 'great game Saturday' and I was like 'they're still watching me, they're still looking out for me' so it feels great coming from a smaller community," said Williams.
As the season continues to unfold the Paradise product would like nothing more than to give her local fan base more to cheer about.
