PAULUS LOOKS FOR TOUCH

SO FAR THIS YEAR, THE SENIOR HAS SHOT ONLY 35.3

PERCENT FROM THE FLOOR.

Wisconsin State Journal

Dec 8, 1999

Authors: Jon Masson Sports reporter

Whenever University of Wisconsin senior guard Kelley Paulus needed to enhance

her game, she didn't have to look far for support. Always, there was no

place like home.

That's been true from the first time her father, Jim, traced footprints

on the Paulus driveway in La Crosse to help her get the steps correct on

a layup.

"Talent could only take me so far," she said. "My dad really knew what

level I wanted to go to. He was there to push me. He pushed me when I needed

to be pushed and he backed off when he needed to."

She spent this summer at home and in Madison working on changing her footwork

and extending her shooting range because she knew the Wisconsin women's

basketball team needed a perimeter presence to go with a potentially strong

inside game.

The 6-foot Paulus, known as a pull-up jump shooter, struggled with her

shooting last season, making 39.4 percent of her field goals.

She worked with UW manager Eric Ferris and her father to improve her shooting

and to shoot 3-point shots over taller opponents.

So far, the results are mixed. Entering tonight's game against Marquette

at Milwaukee, Paulus' scoring average is slightly up over her career average

of 8.9 points per game. She is averaging 10.2 points per game for the Badgers

(4-2), but is shooting only 35.3 percent from the field, including going

4-for-14 from 3-point range.

Paulus, returning from a concussion that forced her to miss two games,

scored 10 points in 19 minutes during UW's 85-62 defeat to Tennessee on

Sunday. She entered the game after 6 minutes had been played and immediately

sank a3-point shot. She then banked in a basket after catching a pass from

freshman Candas Smith and shooting while still in the air.

"She really gave us a lift," UW coach Jane Albright said.

The defeat disappointed Paulus, who saw the Lady Vols exploit UW's ballhandling

and rebounding weaknesses.

But she said: "I proved to myself I could play against the best athletes

and All-Americans in the country and I could keep up with them. It was

a confidence-builder for me, and I just hope I can continue to play the

way I know how to play and up to my potential in the games to come."

Her parents, Jim and Paula, and grandmother, Noreen Twite, kept a close

eye on Paulus during the Tennessee game, and provided support as they have

throughout her career.

In high school at La Crosse Central and in her first two seasons with the

Badgers, Paulus grew accustomed to wearing a pendant in warmups.

Twite gave it to Paulus and it commemorates Paulus' late grandfather's

participation in the 1949 WIAA state boys basketball tournament. Ralph

Twite played for La Crosse Logan, which lost to Hurley, 37-36, in the state

final. Paulus still has the pendant, but doesn't wear it any longer to

games because she admits she can be forgetful.

She will never forget her sister Katey, another source of inspiration.

Kelley Paulus said she added the second "e" to her first name as a high

school freshman in honor of her younger sibling, who died of congenital

heart failure at age 6 when Kelley was 7.

"I liked my name better that way. I thought it was unique that she had

her name like that," said Paulus, whose sister Kara is a freshman at the

University of Minnesota.