This is for my Japanese SoulSilver when it came out a while back:
It was specially tough for me because I promised to myself that I would use only my starter alone to beat her, which is a male Totodile.
Furthermore, I also promised to not use any items, including potions or held items.
Third of all, I didn't try grinding at all, or even train a bit because everything was too easy.
Fourth of all, I didn't try using any strategy the first time because I never needed strategy this early in-game. I only needed it in the last half of the game.
You can easliy guess that I was defeated for following these conditions the first time. But when I saw that me going easy on her wasn't going to do me good, I went out and trained Totodile about 5 levels, then came back and defeated her while still following all those conditions from before, except that I used a slight strategy this time, and the win was mine.
When I played crystal back then, I never thought she was that challenging at all, unlike how others said.
They might have dropped the levels a bit, but it has actually gotten pretty much tougher, since there are Natures, EVs, IVs, and Physical Special split, and most importantly the ability.
It's Miltank's ability which saves it from the Ghosts and ruins the easy way out for the people who were going to use it... Lol!
But now I'm going to challenge her again, this time in my English HeartGold.