Danni Williams solidifies her place as one of New Mexico's best girls basketball players ever

It's no wonder that Danni Williams is one of the greatest - if not the greatest - players in the history of New Mexico girls basketball.

She told MaxPreps, "My first word was 'Ball.' I fell in love with basketball and always wanted to be in the gym. My ability is God-given."

The 5-foot-11 senior guard from Clovis is the most decorated, for sure. She is seeking a record third-straight Gatorade New Mexico Player of the Year Award and her second-straight title as Miss Basketball. She played for a Class 5A state champion as a sophomore, just missed it as a junior and is in the hunt for another title this year.

She already holds the career scoring record at Clovis, set earlier this season. A preseason MaxPreps second-team All-America pick, she currently is averaging 22.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.9 steals and 2.1 assists for the 7-1 Wildcats. She has scored 20 or more points six times with a high of 33. She passed on Tennessee and Baylor to sign with another former NCAA champion, Texas A&M.

Clovis coach Jeff Reed ranks Williams and Stanford signee Alexa Romano of La Cueva (Albuquerque) as 'By far the two best in the state and two of the greatest ever to come through New Mexico."

They were roommates for four years when they played for the New Mexico/Texas Heat Elite AAU team. Their high school teams have met four times during their careers and Clovis holds a 4-0 advantage. Williams outscored Romano 28-24 in this year's 56-51 victory.

Williams pointed out, "We were friends, but at the same time we were very competitive against each other. We really respect each other."

Reed calls the left-handed Williams "a multiple dimensional weapon. She can do everything - handle the ball, score in multiple ways and rebound. She does a good job on defense on steals and can find the open teammate. We have three Division I and two Division 2 players this year and they (opponents) haven't been able to key on her. Two teams tried a box-and-one and it hasn't worked."

Asked to describe herself, Williams replied, "I've kind of been looked at as a deep 3 shooter. At the same time I am shooting better off the dribble and trying to develop (an all-around game). I've done a pretty good job rebounding, but I have to be aware of going over the back. I'm pretty quick and have a good first step."

Though she was an instant star in basketball, Williams' first big success was in motocross. She was national 10-11 champion at age 9 and 12-13 champion at age 11. However, she gave up motocross at age 13 to avoid possible injuries and replaced it with volleyball.

Reed began watching Williams play in grade school and was amazed by her dominance in middle school.

He recalled, "She had all kinds of potential at that age. She was head and shoulders above our other players. She also was surrounded by other good players (unbeaten teams in seventh and eighth grade). I moved her to the JV at the end of eighth grade, for the last two or three games, and she had a 20-point game."

As a freshman she was part of a very successful platoon system. The first five consisted of seniors and juniors, while the second five was sophomore-freshman. She averaged about 10 points for a 25-4 team that lost in the state semifinals.

Williams finally cracked the starting lineup as a sophomore and helped the Wildcats post a 30-2 record and capture the Class 5A state title. She averaged 19.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.9 steals and 2.9 assists.

"It felt really good," she related. "I'd always planned on winning at least one. We had really good senior leadership."

Her junior year produced both good and bad news.

She averaged an impressive 24 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 2.8 assists and nobody from Clovis ever will forget her school-record 42-point explosion during an 89-67 victory over Trinity Christian (Lubbock, Texas).

"She was on fire," coach Reed exclaimed. "She couldn't be stopped. She was draining 3's from NBA range. She had the crowd oohing and ahhing. It was a Michael Jordan-type game."

Williams agreed that it probably was the best game of her career thus far.

She said, "I kind of took what the defense was giving me. I had six 3's. That opened up the lane to drive and I had some three-point plays. He pulled me out with 36 points (the record was 39) and two minutes left. He put me back in for one minute. I got a rebound and hit a 3 (tying the record). Then I got a breakaway, hit a layup and free throw and we still had 1:30 left."

Her junior year ended in heartbreak, though, because the heavily favored 29-0 Wildcats were stunned by unheralded Volcano Vista (Albuquerque) - a team they had beaten by 15 points in the regular season - in the state semifinals.

"It (stinks)," she said of the crushing defeat. "We were not overconfident. Pressure was part of it, being so close to 31-0. It still kind of haunts me."

Leading her volleyball team in kills for several years, Williams also has enhanced her senior year of basketball.

She did an eight-week program that has enabled her to increase her vertical leap 4 to 5 inches. It now is between 28 and 30 inches and especially makes her a more dangerous rebounder.

Williams' major goal in her final high school campaign, of course, is to grab that state title that barely eluded her and her talented teammates last year.

"We don't want to have a repeat of last year," she affirmed.

Then she will take her glossy 4.2 GPA to Texas A&M, where she needs to hit the weights and get stronger for the next level.

Coach Reed revealed that his superstar often gets kidded because she does everything possible to keep from getting cold. Apparently the climate in College Station, Texas, isn't too bad or she might have chosen Tennessee, or even a Florida or California college, for example.

"I can't stand to be cold anytime," she admitted. "I sit on a seat with a heater under it (on the team bus). My room has to be warm and I practice with long sleeves."

Whether her body is cold or not, her shooting always will be red-hot as she leads the Wildcats toward their ultimate goal - the state title that painfully eluded them last year.