High School and College
Christensen attended South Fork Elementary School, then Modoc High School in Alturas, California and graduated in 1998. She started playing basketball in sixth grade and it wasn’t until her junior season in high school that she realized she had potential to have basketball pay for her college education. Christensen averaged 17.4 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game as a senior. She was named the California Division V Player of the Year in 1998 as well as the Shasta Cascade League MVP in her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
As a junior, Christensen scored 17.4 points per game and grabbed 11.1 rebounds per game. Her 470 points scored as a junior and 1,557 points in her career are both Modoc High School records. She blocked 80 shots as a junior and 59 as a senior. During her junior year, Christensen and her Modoc teammates were the Division V state runners-up. The next year, they won the California Interscholastic Federation state Division V championship.
In her spare time, Christensen tutored younger girls at basketball. She also competed in Volleyball and Track.
Christensen later attended college at UC Santa Barbara as a classmate of fellow WNBA player Lindsay Taylor. She is Santa Barbara's all-time career field goal percentage leader. She also ranks among the top ten in rebounds and blocked shots.
Christensen's first season playing at UCSB was (1998–1999). She scored in double figures nine times during her first season, including twice scoring a career-high 18 points. She finished her first season averaging 8.0 points and 5.6 rebounds a game in 16.9 minutes of play. Christensen was named to the Big West's All-Freshman team and finished 12th (out of 15)in the Big West with 0.6 blocks per game. She capped her final season as the Big West Player of the Year.
Her second season was from (1999–2000). Christensen played in 18 games before breaking her wrist on January 25, 2000 forcing her to miss the remainder of the season.
Her final season was (2001–2002) and is considered her finest season as a Gaucho, earning All-Big West First Team honors. In league games, Christensen improved dramatically and averaged 15.6 points per game and also topped the team in rebounds at 7.6 per game. She was twice named the conference Player of the Week, on February 5, 2002 and March 5, 2002.
Read more about this topic: Kayte Christensen
Famous quotes containing the words high, school and/or college:
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