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Last season, Moses was benched at times toward the end of games, due to her below-standard defense, but that hasn't been the case this year. Soon, however, she'd be back out to give it another go, knowing that she needed to get better. "I would never cut her any slack," Corbett said. "She would end up getting mad that I would beat her and end up storming inside the house, complaining to mom, 'Oh, he was cheating,' or what have you. Growing up, she always wanted to be with me and all my neighborhood buddies, whether that was playing basketball in the driveway or playing football in the backyard or climbing a tree. "She wasn't in to the pink ruffles and playing with the neighborhood girls, or playing dress up. She would rather be skinning her knees with the guys." But when the guys didn't want a game, she spent time developing on her own, with individual workout regimens. She outlined her daily routines, from ballhandling drills, to push-ups, to shooting, to her nutrition, on note cards, following each detailed assignment. Most of those took place during the daylight hours, but if the mood struck, she'd flip on the outside lights, and start shooting at midnight. If you have the occasion to be inside Mackey Arena in the middle of the night now, you might just find her doing the same. "She's one of those (players) who doesn't want to get any recognition that she's in the gym extra," Coach Sharon Versyp said. "She doesn't want anybody to know that. She goes in really late at night, but that's just who she is. It's the way she was in high school and now at another level, she's doing that to grow her game as much as she can." Moses is putting together a successful season. A preseason All-Big Ten pick, the guard averaged 12.5 points through Purdue's first 11 games, putting her on pace to break 1,000 career points by the end of the season. But more important than scoring average, particularly on a team with so many offensive options, she's being more efficient. Moses' shooting percentage of 46.7 is the best of her career, and far higher than last season, when she slumped to less than 39 percent. And she's making nearly 42 percent of her three-point attempts, up from 31 percent in 2010-11. GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com Tom Campbell "She wasn't in to the pink ruffles and playing with the neighborhood girls, or playing dress up. She would rather be skinning her knees with the guys." Corbett Moses on sister Courtney, a Boilermaker junior Needless to say, Moses put in the time during the offseason to improve. Versyp, wanting to the Boilers to be better offensively, charged each player with shooting 30,000 shots during the summer; Moses put up 42,000. But it's not all about long-distance shots. Those adolescent days going up against Corbett made her crafty near the basket. Had she not been, he likely would have spiked the ball out of the driveway. "She can get to the rim and get to the foul line," Versyp said. "She does jump pretty high, so she can change in the air when there's taller people who are on her trying to contest her shot." Moses has become a more complete player. Along with her offensive game struggling last season, so did her defense. Versyp often pulled her at the end of close games, getting her off the floor for defense but trying to re-substitute her for offense. "I knew that was a weakness of mine," Moses said, "so I wasn't going to get upset over it when somebody else would come in and be better at it. It's a team sport. If somebody can come in and do the job better than me then they deserve to." But there's been no need for late substitutions this season. Moses says experience and focus has helped her in understanding scouting reports and strategies, like how to maneuver her body around a screen, rather than simply plowing right through it. "I would have glimpses of doing it well, but it has become a habit now," she said. Opposing coaches have taken notice. Guevara, a former head coach at Michigan, raved about Moses after her Chippewas lost in Mackey Arena in early December. "She's a little Stephanie White," Guevara said, referring to the former Purdue star. "That's what she is. Her ability to beast people, her ability to get to the basket and her ability to shoot the three." That's a compliment Moses certainly will take. But in doing so, she'll also deflect credit to others, perhaps first to her brother for those days on the court or in the basement. "I kind of laugh when she gives me the credit because she's the one that put in the blood, sweat and tears," Corbett said. "Her drive and determination to be the best she can, whether that's in basketball or school work or life or church or wherever she's at. She wants to give 100 percent and I think that's just a Godgiven talent. "I don't think that was necessarily me or mom or dad or anyone else pushing her. It was herself being out in the driveway at midnight shooting hundreds of free throws, three-pointers, pull-up jumpers, or working on her ball-handling in the middle of winter in the garage or in the basement." j Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 3 • 55