As much as Elizabeth Williams says her strong friendships and success on a world staged changed her, blood ultimately proved a thicker bond, prompting the No. 2 prospect in the 2011 class to choose to sign Wednesday with Duke.
Her other finalist, Tennessee, tried to play up the number of times the Lady Vols were on television, Williams said in a phone interview on Tuesday, but Duke being just a 3 ½-hour drive from her home in Virginia Beach, Va., trumped that.
"Being close to home, and having my family able to see me play, was always in play," Williams said of her recruitment.
The 6-foot-3 post said Duke's world-renowned medical school, plus its link to an undergraduate program, was the other major factor in her decision.
But it wasn't easy. Other relationships also tugged at her. She cemented close friendships with Tennessee commits Cierra Burdick, the No. 3 prospect in the ESNPU HoopGurlz 100 from Charlotte, N.C., and Ariel Massengale, the No. 4 prospect, of Bolingbrook, Ill., while helping Team USA win gold medals at the FIBA U17 World Championships in France last summer and the FIBA U16 Americas Championship the summer before.
Two of Williams' club teammates with Boo Williams Summer League, No. 73 Whitney Knight of Winston-Salem, N.C., and No. 82 Ka'Lia Johnson of Chester, Va., also are committed to the Blue Devils, as is No. 20 Amber Henson of Tampa, Fla.
Williams, a senior at Princess Anne High School, considerably elevated her status and self-confidence by both times leading the U.S. in scoring and rebounding. She was named the most outstanding player of the Americas tournament in Mexico City during the summer of 2009.
"I've definitely changed a lot," Williams said. "I've grown a lot. I'm a lot more outgoing than I used to be. It's crazy to think about."
She hasn't changed completely. Williams said she followed her personality while playing out her recruitment. While almost all of the ranked recruits in the 2011 class already have committed, she stuck to her plan of assembling as much information as she could and taking all five of her official visits.
If she were to do it all again, Williams said she would take more unofficial visits and fewer officials, but probably would have maintained a similar timeline.
The decision to commit to coach Joanne P. McCallie, who assembled the No. 1 signing class in 2010, per ESPN HoopGurlz, became "crystal clear" a couple days ago, but Williams had scheduled a press conference at Princess Anne for Tuesday.
"I can keep a secret," she said.
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