It’s the fall before basketball season and coach Bryan Bartley is readying Landmark Christian for competition. The drills are plentiful, the sprinting is intense and the hope of a regional or state title is the hope of many.

Anyone fortunate enough to be in the gymnasium bleachers observing, rather than taking part in the grueling workout, is probably fixing their gaze on the 6-foot-10 specimen by the name of Randolph Morris, who would be destined for big things.

However, they do eventually notice a slightly shorter player with a little bit longer hair. Is that a girl?

It is, but the coach doesn’t seem to be going very easy on her.

Little does this casual bystander know that this girl aspires for big things as well.

If they could obtain a ticket to an N.C. State women’s game in Reynolds Coliseum they would see where her hard work has gotten her.

Starting guard Ashley Key remembers these high school workouts like they were yesterday.

“It was very fast-paced,” Key said. “A lot of the drills were NBA-type drills.”

It’s always good to prepare for the future, but Key was focused on improving her game at that moment.

“It elevated me to another level,” Key said. “It showed me the things I needed to work on more.”

According to the men’s varsity coach at the time, Bryan Bartley, Key showed up for these practices voluntarily.

“The girls’ coach coached football during the fall, so he allowed her to work out with the guys team,” Bartley said. “She was always up for the challenge.”

It was during these practices that Bartley sought to make the reality of playing Division-I basketball clear to Key and to keep her striving for more.

“He always told me there was somebody else somewhere working, trying to be better than me,” Key said. “He just was always pushing me.”

However, Bartley knew he was not the only source of her motivation.

“She always got the motivation from her parents and she had the determination inside of her,” Bartley said. “I just always tried to push her to become better. Just set the standard a little higher.”

Key brought the toughness she acquired from playing with the guys over to her team when she sacrificed her own body for the team’s success. Early on during her junior season she tore her ACL, but kept playing on it through the season until January, when her coaches and parents forced her to have surgery.

“It was painful and it kept popping out during games, so I always had to wear a brace,” Key said. “I just wanted to play. I didn’t want to sit.”

Now, as a junior and in her third year donning the red and white, Key has established herself as a model of hard work. Most notably with her defense, as she was selected to the All-ACC defensive team last season. To coach Kay Yow, her success on defense is a credit to her physical prowess as well as to something inside of her.

“She has really good quickness and lateral movement,” Yow said. “She also has the heart and the head to know what she’s doing. She just has everything to be a great defender… she has everything to be a great player.”

To the often humble Key, shutting down the other team’s top perimeter player is just something she does to help her team win.

“I know that it is something that my teammates look up to me to do,” Key said. “I have to know that going into the game, and just rise to the occasion.”

According to Yow, Key doesn’t let Yow or Key’s teammates down off the court either with her good character.

“She’s very dependable. You don’t have to wonder, ‘Is she in her meetings?’ or ‘Is she going to class?’ Yow said. “She’s a really great role model to have for the incoming freshmen.”

While it’s all business on the court for Key, fellow teammate and friend Danielle Wilhelm says that when the two are hanging out they are often anything but serious.

“We like to be goofy,” Wilhelm said. “We like to shop. Well, I like to shop and I drag her along with me. We like to go in stores and try on goofy outfits.”

However, the industrial engineering major says she wants more out of her future then just fashion.

“I would love to play in the WNBA or overseas,” Key said. “I’d also love to work for a big-time corporation in my field and maybe even start my own company some day with my cousin.”

But for now, basketball will remain the focus for Key, just as it was when she wore her War Eagles uniform three years ago.