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RUSTON -- Brooke Pumroy was born to be a baller.

Although she hasn't always been the hard-nosed, gritty, dive-on-the-floor-at-all-costs basketball player that she is today.

"I started playing YMCA ball when I was five years old," Pumroy said. "I was just like any other girl. My mom made sure I had a bow in my hair. I ran away from the ball. I didn't want to play. I'd rather just wave at my mom.

"I think my dad wanted a son for a while," she laughed.

She simply wasn't very interested in playing basketball -- or any sport -- at a young age. It was an auspicious start on the hardwood, to say the least, for the Louisiana Tech red-shirt junior.

However, once she quit running away from it, Pumroy grew up with a basketball in her hands.

Now the Fairborn, Ohio native sports pre-wrap around her head to keep her flowing blonde locks out of her face and a compression sleeve on her right knee to support a once-torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Fairborn is a diverse area where "one bridge connects two towns." The town is home to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Pumroy's father Rick works as a home inspector. Her mother Michelle is a dental hygienist. She has one brother, Jordan.

And at age 21, this bowhead-turned-baller is set to lead the Lady Techsters at the point guard position during her final two years of college basketball.

Pumroy is battle-tested. She has the scars to prove it, literally and figuratively.

And she won't face anything over the next two years in Ruston that she hasn't already experienced in college basketball. She is prepared, mostly due to the Big East battles with the Skylar Diggins of the world during her two years at Marquette.

The road from Fairborn, Ohio to Marquette was an interesting one. The road from Milwaukee to Ruston, even more convoluted.

During a nice prep career at Fairborn High School, Pumroy was heavily recruited by some of the major players in the north and even some down south.

"I went to visit Michigan and Michigan State," said Pumroy, who has spent this summer working at Squire Creek Country Club. "Miami of Florida came to watch my practices. The summer before my senior year I was at Vanderbilt's camp. That's where I wanted to go to school. I was set (to go to Vanderbilt). But I tore my ACL at their elite camp."

Vanderbilt instantly backed off of the injured guard. Their scholarship offer was off the table. Instead of being devastated, Pumroy looked at the situation "as a blessing in disguise."

"On my way home from that camp, Marquette coach Terri Mitchell called me and said `We want to offer you. We usually don't offer over the phone, but we want to offer you.' And I said, Marquette? Where is that? So that next weekend I went up there on my crutches, and I loved it. So I committed there."

Anyone who knows Pumroy understands that attitude fits her to a T. When life rolls out a deflated basketball, she finds a way to inflate it and starts bouncing it again.

Pumroy admits despite a decorated high school career and plenty of time in AAU basketball, she enrolled in the Milwaukee-based college possessing plenty of skill but lacking the knowledge and lingo of the game.

"When I got to the collegiate level it was like a big slap in the face," Pumroy said. "I was like I don't know what any of these terms are. What is a down screen? So it took a lot of time."

Enter Marquette assistant coach Tyler Summitt.

"I spent so much time with Coach Tyler, like two hours a day watching and learning the vocabulary and watching other players," Pumroy said. "There was so much extra time I had to spend doing that stuff. I was literally the only point guard we had when I got there so I had to learn."

A young point guard learning from a young assistant coach, countless hours mentoring through film study and more.

"Brooke and I have been developing a relationship for almost four years now," Summitt said. "The fact she had to be our starting point guard at Marquette as freshman and sophomore against top talent forced us to have a lot of 1-on-1 time learning how to handle the role."

Pumroy started 63 of 64 games during her two years with Marquette, averaging 9.1 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds as a sophomore. She will be the first to admit her career highlight at Marquette came against none other than, Vanderbilt.

Pumroy scored 13 points and registered eight assists to lead the Golden Eagles to a win over the Commodores, this time leaving Vanderbilt with a sick feeling in its stomach.

"It was the best time of my life," she recalls.

In addition to developing a relationship with Summitt during her days in Milwaukee, Pumroy also met teammate Ashley Santos and the two quickly became inseparable. Although different in a lot of ways, Pumroy and Santos became roommates at Marquette.

"Brooke beats her own drum; she is very different," said the quieter Santos. "That is a great characteristic to have because she stands out. She is a different kind of goofy. She can relate to anybody and that is great. She can make almost anybody laugh. She is entertaining. You cannot predict what is going to come out of that girl's mouth."

However, it was Santos who surprised Pumroy one day with what came out of her mouth.

As news that Summitt was interviewing for head coaching jobs began to spread, it led to an interesting conversation between the two friends.

"I was talking to Ashley in class one day and she was saying `(Coach Tyler) is going to be really successful,'" said Pumroy. "`He's going to win. What if we went with him?'

"I was comfortable (at Marquette). I had already made my home and got my starting spot. But I got to thinking more about it. I knew God was telling me to do it. I still had no idea where we were going. Coach Tyler wouldn't talk to us because he is so big about following the rules. We just knew he wasn't at Marquette, and we wanted to go with him. We asked for a release before we knew where we were going or if (Coach Tyler) would even offer us a spot."

Pumroy and Santos stepped out on faith, and nothing more.

"We dressed up for the day we were going to ask for our release," Pumroy said. "It was the scariest think I had ever done. I just really thought this is what I needed to do. I wanted to win. I wanted to go somewhere where I'm going to win."

According to Pumroy, the news didn't sit well with Terri Mitchell or the administration. It made for some difficult times. At first both players were denied a release.

However, a few weeks later, Mitchell was relieved of her coaching duties, giving the girls another reason for wanting to leave Marquette.

Eventually, the sun broke through the clouds and unconditional releases were granted, allowing both girls to transfer to any school of their choice. Pumroy said that's when the next phone call was placed. This one would determine both girls future.

"We called Coach Tyler and told him that we don't have a team to play for anymore," Pumroy said.

Summitt discussed the situation with his staff and then provided a remedy. In late May of 2014, both Pumroy and Santos signed financial aid agreements with Louisiana Tech, making it official.

Next came the difficult dilemma of sitting out an entire year of basketball. But like a champ, Pumroy found the positives to an unpleasant situation for a competitor of her nature.

"At the end of the day I knew that when I came down here there was something greater for me, like a greater purpose for me," Pumroy said. "I was prepared for it, and I wanted to help in any way I could. I always told them I'm here to serve you. Whatever you want I will help you. I think that helped me grow as a person a lot.

"It took a lot of my focus off of not playing. It helped me focus on school and getting my priorities right. At Marquette it was always basketball, basketball, basketball. I got more focused in on my schoolwork. It was definitely a good thing that that happened."

Although Summitt missed Pumroy on the court last year, he knew she was still growing in other areas of her life.

"We have spent years discussing leadership, how to be a point guard, how to succeed academically," Summitt said. "I'm proud of her development. She has come a long way since her freshman year at Marquette."

Away from the court, Pumroy has plenty of interests, including golf, FCA, family, self-help books and personal development videos.

"During the summer I would go to work out then go to the driving range," Pumroy said. "I love to golf. I don't think I'm that good. I'll go to the Tech course and play sometimes by myself."

"I'm a part of FCA. I go to church every Sunday at the Bridge. I love being a part of FCA. I really spend my free time talking to my family; I've got a lot of family members back home.

"Once or twice a week I try to learn something new like fixing something. I always helped my dad fix things.

"I love to watch TED Talks (on-line). They have the best speakers and clinics about everything. Like motivational speakers, or the one word that best describes you."

Or in Brooke Pumroy's case, the five words that best describe her ... born to be a baller.