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70 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 f could pass off to other more high-profile players like Houser or Courtney Moses, isn't. So Williams had to flip the switch on offense, turn- ing it on after it had been dormant so long. She's made that look relatively easy, suddenly playing with an ag- gression that had been missing. But she says it wasn't. "It was more (about saying) you just have to go out there and have fun," she said. "If you go out there thinking 'I have to do this, I have to do that,' that's when you're thinking too much and are putting too much on a game that's supposed to be fun. Go out there and do what you can. That's made the switch easier for me, thinking to just go out there and have fun, don't put too much pressure on yourself." The middle of this season wasn't as pleasant. Al- though Purdue was winning, Williams wasn't playing much, as finding the right role was proving to be a struggle. With Purdue shorthanded in the frontcourt to start the season, Williams was forced to fill in as the Boiler- makers' starting power forward after being a perimeter player her first three years. But once other interior op- tions began to emerge, namely center Camille Redmon, Williams' spot was in flux. During consecutive games in mid-January, she played only 12 minutes total. "It was frustrating, but at the same time we were winning games," Williams said. "It wasn't 'Oh my gosh, I'm not playing so I'm mad.' It was more of 'I'm frustrated with myself because I need to figure out what I'm doing.' But we were winning. It was a give- and-take." Difficult, though, for a senior captain who had played in so many games throughout her career, mak- ing 61 starts. But Houser's injury cleared the picture; Williams slid back into her position at small forward, a place she had grown familiar through the years, where she'd been given plenty of minutes, provided she was productive. And she's produced. Williams has never before looked so confident with her perimeter shot, letting it fly without a second thought. She did so particularly against the Hawkeyes, hitting a three for Purdue's first points of the game, then another as Purdue rallied from down 18. She scored a season-high-tying 10 points in the one-point win, matching her production two games earlier in a victory over Ohio State. That kind of offense was unexpected by the Hawkeyes. "Maybe with KK going out, she's assuming a little bit more of that role," veteran Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said Feb. 16. "But we did not see that. We did not feel like she was going to be that much of an offensive threat today." But those who know Williams best realize her ca- pabilities. She was a well-rounded athlete at Ben Da- vis High School, a bit of a glue player her junior and senior seasons for the back-to-back Class 4A Indiana state champions. Yet she could score too, averaging about 10 points per game for the balanced Giants. Seeing her playing so confidently now is refreshing for her family. "We've been waiting to see her play like that since she's been there (at Purdue)," Charlene Williams said a couple days after the Iowa win, "because we were like 'Dee Dee's back.' That's what we're used to seeing. It was a happy time for all of us." Time is running out, however. Williams can easily count her remaining games, but at least she can go out knowing she's playing her best. "I feel like I've always had it in me, it's just I'm a very selfless person and I'm always team-first, every- body else-first," she said. "After having one of our big- gest offensive guards go down, it's just that I had no other choice but to step up for my team. I feel like during practice, I'm doing more; Coach is constantly instilling confidence in me. Teammates are constantly instilling confidence in me and it's all coming togeth- er at the right time." j