November 9, 1998

By Susan Coscione, Purdue Athletic Public Relations Student Assistant

Kelly Komara is a freshman guard on the Purdue women's basketball team. A native of Schererville, Ind., and standout at Lake Central High School, Komara joins the Boilermakers as the fourth Indiana Miss Basketball to play at Purdue. She boasts a very impressive resume including, averaging 21.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 4.4 steals per game as a senior, which will only stir up Boilermaker fans even more in anticipation of what's to come from the highly-talented guard.

Komara is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, but where exactly will she fit in on this year's team, which already is extremely talented at the guard positions with players like Ukari Figgs, Katie Douglas and Stephanie White-McCarty?

Even though Purdue does have a lot of depth in the guard area, Purdue head coach Carolyn Peck is still expecting a great deal of contributions from her dynamic freshman.

"We hope that she will contribute a lot," Peck says. "She is aggressive with the ball. She anticipates well defensively, and she can shoot the ball. She will fit right into our system along with the other guards that we have."

As is the case with anyone coming into a new environment, there will always be adjustments that will need to be made in making the jump from the high school level to the college level. Not only do you have to adjust to the different style of play and competition in collegiate ball, but there are other aspects, as well, that involve life outside of basketball, particularly your social life. Komara says that she has to make some sacrifices sometimes in order to manage all the activities involved in both school and playing basketball.

"It's hard because when you get time to go out, you are so tired," Komara says. "So you are just like, 'I want to just stay home.' The hardest aspect of it is when you know that everybody else is out and you have to stay in and study. I think that is something you just need to adjust to your freshman year."

As far as her basketball performance, Peck thinks that Komara has been doing just fine.

"She's adjusting well," Peck says. "She's not afraid of a challenge, and she takes it head-on. It is not like we are having to teach her a lot because she is already a talented athlete. She does have some things to learn, but she's picked up on them very quickly. She has done a great job."

Komara has already seen several differences from the high school level to the collegiate level.

"Everything you do here is 100 percent," Komara says. "The individual workouts are so intense and so are the scrimmages. The pace of the game is a lot faster, and everybody plays better defense. Everybody is so tall."

The freshman also is hoping that the new style of play in college basketball is going to strengthen her abilities, individually, as well.

"I like coming into a team knowing that when I pass the ball, somebody is going to catch it, somebody is going to shoot it, and somebody is going to make the basket," Komara says. "I'm really looking forward to being able to show people what I can do."

Komara has a fun-loving playing style, which will certainly fit in well with her other teammates. She is a competitor who loves to win, and she really hates to lose. In fact, she is willing to do whatever it takes for the team to be successful whether it be giving Figgs or Douglas a breather, scrapping for a loose ball or setting bone-crunching screens. Peck is excited about Komara's personality on the court and is hoping that her freshman will light up the court for her teammates, as well.

"She has a fun personality, and I think that comes out in her playing style," Peck says. "I think she loves the game. She wants to play the game, and she wants to compete. She is energy, and when the competition picks up her energy peaks up. I think she is a spark for us. She does a lot of encouraging her teammates on the floor, and she's the type of point guard that keeps her team involved. She's life. She's very exciting on the floor, and she will be a lot of fun to watch.

"Kelly is the type of player that every coach would want to have. She's not afraid to encourage or push a little bit. Showing that early on as a freshman is only going to go miles for her throughout her career."

Komara will be majoring in physical education during her career here at Purdue, a choice her teammates enjoy teasing her about.

"Most of my teammates find it very humorous that I want to major in physical education, and they like to joke around about it," says Komara. "I want to teach and hopefully coach, as well, so I thought this would be a good option for me."

Her teammates and coaches enjoy teasing her about another subject, too -her love for bread. Actually, they have to separate Komara and teammate Tiffany Young during dinner because they both love bread and even fight over it.

"We were over at Stack's (Assistant coach Pam Stackhouse) house for dinner with a recruit," Komara says. "We had to do a skit for our recruit, so we were standing there and everybody was starving. There was a huge basket of the greatest-looking bread. So I started taking some of them, and everybody was telling me to stop taking them or else there wouldn't be any left. There were two left after dinner, and I took them and put them in my pockets. All of a sudden, Tiff (Young) sat right on my lap, and smooshed all of the rolls in my pockets. I didn't think it was very funny, but everybody else thought it was hilarious."

If you are ever around Komara and her teammates and coaches, you will often hear her being called "Z." She was given the nickname by former Purdue coach Nell Fortner, and it just stuck on her. Komara says that even her family calls her "Z" sometimes. She was named "Z" because her favorite car is the Camaro Z-28.

One of Komara's favorite pasttimes is lifting weights. In fact, she isn't shy to admit that she can bench 160 pounds. She says that lifting weights was not something she wanted to do early on in her career.

"My dad was really into weights, so we had a basement full of weights," Komara says. "So he told me that I should lift because it was going to help me. I told him that I didn't want to lift because I didn't want to get big or get fat. So when I started playing AAU, I saw the level that I had to get to in order to compete."

Komara may have a ritual of her own to go with Camille Cooper's pickle-eating before games. The freshman has to listen to the "Rocky IV" soundtrack before each game.

"Rocky IV is probably one of my favorite movies," Komara says. "I love the way they trained in the movie. It was so cool. When I watch the movie, I get really pumped up."

The Lake Central star wore the No. 22 jersey for four years in high school, but the time has come for her to give it up. Since White-McCarty already owns the number, Komara was forced to choose a different number. She chose No. 3.

"I wanted to be No. 22 in high school because of Steph," says Komara. "I saw her play when I was in eighth grade, and I thought, 'wow, she's awesome.' I like her style of play because she makes everything look so easy."

Komara is competitive, easygoing and complete energy on the court. She'll surely dazzle us all in the years to come.

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