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32 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATE VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 A pril Wilson is on a mission. The senior point guard said so following the Boilermakers' second win of the season, when she spurred a second-half run that gave Purdue a vic- tory, but her statement since then has proven to be about more than words. Through the first 10 games of the season, nearly the entire non-conference sea- son, Wilson has played at an All-Big Ten level, averag- ing career highs in points, rebounds and assists and in shooting percentages. And there was no reason to think she'll back down once the Big Ten season starts in late December. Wilson has been Purdue's Alpha Dog: Its heart, its soul, its voice, its leader, its captain, its scorer, its defender, its everything. "She's been taking control," teammate Torrie Thornton said. "It's gotten to the point where she's like, 'OK, we've got to make a play,' and she's defi- nitely a playmaker for us." Before the season, it was reasonable to expect Wil- son to be improved; she was plenty experienced, hav- ing started 52 games over the last two seasons while showing moments of solid play, particularly in her ability to distribute and defend. But this was unreasonable. Few would have pre- dicted her to develop into Purdue's go-to player on the offensive end, one who would take over — maybe even change outcomes — at a moment's notice. But she's done so. Not just once, like in the Game 2 win over Illinois-Chicago, but repeatedly, like vs. Louisville, Dayton and Ball State. "Any good player, you become a great player when you know it's time to take over," Coach Sharon Ver- syp said. "You're deferring (to others), but now all the sudden, you're starting to see some openings. She wants to take that last shot, that's where you (go from) an average team (to) a very good team. She's put us on her back." Wilson had plenty of reasons to do so. FINDING FUEL In the early morning hours of Jan. 9, a year ago, Wilson drove back from the airport to her apartment. And she felt terrible. The game a few hours before — a 24-point loss at 12th-ranked Maryland in Col- lege Park — combined with the travel might have been enough to rankle the Boilermaker. But this was more, something physical, that was causing discom- fort. Wilson couldn't breathe; every time she did, it resulted in severe pain in her left side. Thornton, Wilson's roommate, sat in the passen- ger seat and saw the pain her friend was suffering. "I had to tell her, 'OK, we need to see Jess (Lip- sett). We need to do something,'" said Thornton, sug- gesting a trip to see Purdue's athletic trainer as soon as possible. So after suffering through a night of restlessness, Wilson did, and the results were not surprising. She had suffered a broken No. 8 rib — they're numbered, 1 through 12, from the top, putting 8 at two-thirds of the way down — that explained her pain. But Wilson didn't sit. Three days after the Mary- land game, she suited up at Iowa, tried to pad up her midsection as best as possible, and played. But not well. Wilson hit only one of her seven shots, a three-point- er, and had five turnovers and an assist, and Purdue lost. The next game, home vs. Wisconsin, she was 1-of- 10 shooting, with five three-point misses, and five turn- overs. And Purdue lost. The scenario played out over and over during the last two months of the season. Wilson's offense suf- fered tremendously, as the medicine she took to dull the pain didn't always dull it enough. Extending her arms to follow through on shots, particularly those of longer range, frequently caused searing pain. And any time she tried to put on extra padding, it encum- bered her movement too much. And then the losses mounted. The Maryland game marked the start of a 15-game stretch to end the reg- ular season in which Purdue lost 14. The Boilermak- ers finished the year with only 11 wins and 20 losses, their worst showing in more than 30 years. Wilson averaged only 8.9 points per game, down more than a point from a year before, while shoot- ing career-lows of 35 percent from the field and 24