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VOLUME 27, ISSUE 2 75 O nly a couple years ago, Ashley Morrissette didn't want to do any of the extras. She didn't want to go to team photo shoots, where she'd have to pose for the promotional pictures used by Purdue on billboards or on game programs or on the video board. She didn't want to do media interviews, barely even had the patience to participate in them. She didn't want to socialize much, keeping teammates at a comfortable distance, letting them know her, but not know her. She didn't want to lead, feeling that was a job for others, but not her. She wanted to be in the background, not the foreground — "she would step aside," teammate Bree Horrocks said — and why not? All that other stuff was just a distraction from the task at hand. "I felt like I was here for a reason and didn't need to do all this extra," the now-senior guard said. "I was just there to play basketball and be a student." And it was fine. As a sophomore, in her first season as a full-time starter, Morrissette averaged 11 points per game, second-highest on the Boilermakers. But that was a bad team. Purdue won only 11 games in 2014-15 and sunk to last in the Big Ten, leaving many to wonder what had come of the program. Afterward, a light bulb started to flicker for Morris- sette. In what was described then, and continues to be when reflected upon now, as one of the most grueling offseasons of conditioning, Morrissette began to assert herself. Although she'd built relationships one-on-one with team- mates before then — Horrocks felt like she was a person she could confide in as a rookie — she had rarely spoken out in front of the group. But after a season that was Pur- due's worst in three decades, she decided to. "She pushed people, held people accountable," Horrocks said. "We always did a lot of partner activities and she was always telling me what I needed to do to get more steps on the Jacobs Ladder (exercise equipment), what I needed to do to push the plate farther. She was constantly in my ear helping me push through some of the hardest stuff I had ever done before then. "And she was talking to everyone. No matter the situ- ation, there's always days where you don't want to talk, days you don't want to open your mouth, you're tired, whatever, you're going through stuff, but you could al- ways hear her voice, and it's pretty much that way now. "We all have our days, but you're going to hear her voice at some point or another."' It's an area even more critical this season. After last season, when Purdue recovered to win 20 games and get back to the NCAA Tournament, it graduated April Wilson, the Boilermakers' most vocal leader, and Torrie Thornton, perhaps its second-most. Morrissette and Bridget Perry, Purdue's only two se- niors, along with junior Andreona Keys, are the captains now. But much is likely to fall on Morrissette, because the 5-foot-9 guard from Twinsburg, Ohio, near Cleveland, is the only veteran in an underclassmen-laden backcourt. She'll have to try to ease the transition from Wilson at the point, where she'd been a three-year starter, to Tiara Murphy, a sophomore who played only sparingly as a rook- ie. A couple other freshmen are expected to compete for Embracing It All Morrissette has grown into leadership role BY KYLE CHARTERS KCharters@GoldandBlack.com "She has embraced her role of being a senior and being a captain of our team." — Andreona Keys on Ashley Morrissette