Spotlight Turns On

She has nearly always been the extra one, the third, fourth or fifth wheel. Her athletic talent was undeniable, yet circumstances beyond her control seemed to keep her in the background.

But Lisa Willis couldn’t be kept in the shadows this season. As the UCLA senior prepares to play her final home game today against cross-town rival USC, the 5-foot-11 guard’s impact is clear.

She is listed among Pacific 10 Conference leaders in several statistical categories -- fourth in scoring with an average of 17.5 points, first in steals with an average of 3.54, seventh in free-throw percentage, 78.4%, and eighth in assists, 3.58 per game, and three-point field goals, 24.

“She’s just having a great year,” UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier said.

Willis and fellow guards Nikki Blue and Noelle Quinn are the primary reasons the 15-9 Bruins are averaging 79.6 points a game, best in the Pac-10 and fifth in the nation. Each has more than 1,000 career points, meaning that for only the second time in program history UCLA has had three 1,000-point scorers on the floor at the same time.

But while Blue and Quinn are no strangers to acclaim, it’s different for Willis, who has mainly been known as a complementary player.

“My dad wasn’t sure I could handle being a star,” Willis said. “Growing up, I always played with older people so I would play with better people. So I’ve always had girls on the team to look up to.

“When I played with people where I was, in fact, the star, it wasn’t fun. They don’t catch your passes or you can’t expect as much from them. So I’ve loved playing with Nikki and Noelle. It’s not as much fun when all the burdens are on you. We get to share that.”

When Blue and Quinn were struggling earlier this season, Willis carried the offense. Her 29 points were central to UCLA’s upset of Georgia. She had 28 in a loss to Santa Barbara, 31 in a victory against Oregon State. Willis has scored 20 or more points in 11 of UCLA’s 24 games and has been the leading scorer eight times, second on the team to Quinn’s 13.

The scoring ability has always been there. At Harbor City Narbonne High, Willis played on teams that won Los Angeles City titles, state titles and were ranked No. 1 in the nation. She was chosen to all-league and All-City teams, but teammates such as Ebony Hoffman and Loree Moore, who went on to star in college and the WNBA, drew most of the attention.

Yet Narbonne Coach James Anderson says Willis “was the best pure player I’ve ever coached, adding, “She has a high basketball IQ and is one of smartest kids I’ve had.”

At UCLA, Willis averaged 7.7 points as a freshman, 14.3 as a sophomore and 16.3 as a junior.

And she does more than score. Her 100 steals in the 2003-04 season were the most ever by a UCLA sophomore. Her 102 the next season were the most by a UCLA junior and third-most in team history. She is the first player at UCLA with consecutive 100-steal seasons and is the Pac-10 all-time leader in steals with 342.

On other teams, Willis would probably be the lead or most-recognizable player, but at UCLA she shares the marquee. Blue, the point guard, runs the team. Quinn, arguably UCLA’s best all-around player, is the hub around which everyone else flows. Until this season, Willis blended in, popping up with a big three here, a key steal there.

Last summer, Willis, Blue and Quinn were invited to compete with 54 other top-flight college players for the U.S. team headed to the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey.

There were 12 spots on the roster, and big names such as North Carolina’s Ivory Latta, Stanford’s Candice Wiggins, Texas’ Tiffany Jackson and Oklahoma’s Leah Rush didn’t make the final cut.

Neither did Blue or Quinn.

Willis did.

“It is a committee who chose the team, and there were long and hard discussions,” said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, who coached the U.S. team. “To be honest, we needed a three-point shooter, a zone buster. And Lisa is a great shooter. That was not all she was, but we thought we’d face zone more than we did.”

Willis was not a starter, but she played an important role in the U.S. winning the gold medal. In the championship game against Serbia-Montenegro, she scored 13 points.

“One of my biggest challenges was to keep the 12 players happy,” Delaney-Smith said, adding that Willis was in the last group of players nine through 12 “and I have so much respect for her embracing that role.”

“She has all the intangibles: high energy level, great sense of humor, a tough edge to her game,” Delaney-Smith added. “The kind of player I love to coach.”

That experience carried over, UCLA’s Olivier said.

“This year she had more impact immediately. That probably has to do with her summer experience, playing against those players every day in practice and having the confidence to go against anybody,” Olivier said. “I think from that experience she set her expectations even higher for herself. It’s allowed her to do the things she’s done.”

Added Willis: “That includes the stuff I didn’t realize I was bringing back with me. Those practices were intense. But it was fun because everyone had the common goal to win the gold medal.

“I learned how to deal with different situations, learned new moves. My confidence was boosted a great deal.”

She has also performed in the classroom. Willis will graduate in May with a degree in political science and has thoughts of eventually attending law school. But playing professional basketball has always been a dream.

“I wanted to be the first woman in the NBA, but now that’s altered,” Willis said. “I want to be in the WNBA.”

Willis can expect to be invited to the WNBA pre-draft camp in Boston on April 3 and to hear her name called in the league’s draft two days later.

Some scouts and general managers expect Willis to be taken late in the first round or early in the second.

“Lisa is a good athlete and a good one-on-one player,” said one scout. “I don’t know if she needs to show anything else. How she fits into a system is how it will come down to where she is drafted. And I believe she can fit into most styles.”

That’s no surprise. Willis has always fit in.

Only now she’s also standing out.