Personally I don't prefer those cliched, small talk questions either when I'm getting to know someone. They're too vague and open-ended for me I guess.
To what extent to you know her? I mean, you must have something in common already if you met her through someone or somewhere. I would just start talking about whatever you're comfortable talking about (i.e., your interests, things you like or dislike, how you grew up, a funny thing that happened to you today, observations, etc.) and see if she responds to that by telling you about herself. In whatever you say, bottom line is it's important to keep things light, make her laugh, joke around, y'know flirting.