She is a cousin of Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams, her favorite sports team is the Pittsburgh Steelers and her favorite athlete is Serena Williams.

There’s a common thread, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that Erin Wigley is a grueling competitor for the women’s basketball team. But the season ended for the Illini on March 22, and Wigley’s collegiate basketball career ended right then and there.

Wigley deeply cared about winning, and that attitude was displayed in a press conference after the Senior Day loss against Purdue on Feb. 25. Wigley would not speak about becoming only the 20th player in Illini history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

Wigley pump-faked, made an athletic move and nailed a baseline jumper to give her 1,001 points. Before the game, there was an enormous presentation, as all of Assembly Hall stood because Wigley was the lone senior on the squad.

“A loss is a loss and that overshadows everything,” Wigley said after the game.

It should also come as no surprise to find out what sophomore sharpshooter Lori Bjork’s favorite attribute of Wigley is:

“Her competitiveness,” Bjork said. “When (Wigley) gets on the court, she really gets after it, and she responds to a challenge. Whether coach (Theresa Grentz) challenged her, whether a teammate challenged her, she always stepped up her game.”

Bjork, too, was disappointed about that loss but believes that the accomplishment is something Wigley can keep forever.

“Something to cap off your career with,” Bjork said of the feat. “It’s something to take away with you, to remember. It was nice to see her get in the record books and to feel like we were all a part of that.”

Wigley, majoring in sport management and minoring in business, feels that it is important to have people as a part of her life. Whether it is her success playing the game she loves or being an Academic All-Big Ten selection three straight years, Wigley has utilized those around her to create the best outcomes possible.

“I’m happy with all the experiences and the people I’ve met since I’ve been here,” Wigley said.

But Wigley wanted to push the envelope regarding experiences. Just living the life of a Big Ten athlete wasn’t enough for her, and neither was going on a trip to Italy with her coaches and teammates from May 22 to June 1 to play (and win) four competitive games – and tour the country.

Wigley participated in an internship opportunity over the summer for the NBA League Office. One of her many goals is to end up in the front office of an NBA or a WNBA team. She said this upcoming summer she will work with the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Fever.

Grentz appreciated how Wigley has helped keep Illini basketball a postseason contender over the past four years but is excited to see what the future holds for the 6-foot-2 forward.

“It’s time for Erin to expand, to spread her wings, to start to put into practice these lessons that she’s learned here at Illinois, and to go forth,” Grentz said. “And, based on what I’ve learned from her internship in New York, she is destined to be very successful.”

But what Wigley cares about more than attempting to be great at whatever she does is valuing relationships with those who she has grown close to. When discussing images of the past to recap her four years, Wigley knew what she wanted to say immediately.

“My teammates,” Wigley said. “All the big wins that we’ve had over my career, remembering how hard we worked to get those wins and everything that we put into the season. We’re still together.”

Bjork was impressed right off the bat with Wigley’s dedication and compassion toward team members. When Bjork’s freshman class was preparing for college life and basketball over the summer upon entering the University, Wigley had internship offers – and passed them up. Wigley stayed at Illinois and helped the freshman class adjust.

“That showed a lot of commitment,” Bjork said.

Sometimes all of Wigley’s positive qualities aren’t noticed by those outside of women’s basketball. She admits that she can come off as a stubborn individual if the outsider doesn’t truly know her.

She has a response to those critics.

“That’s the big misconception,” Wigley said. “I’m shy around people I don’t know. I’m pretty laid back around people that I do know. … People think I come off as a little too hard or a little too mean sometimes, but that’s completely the opposite.”

However, coming off as hard or mean is a trait Wigley conveys while being competitive on the basketball court. Her tenacity helped her finish with 1,023 points, tied for 18th on Illinois’ historic scoring list. Wigley liked the transformation she has gone through from her freshman to her senior year, all the while scoring point after point.

When Wigley looks back at her freshman year, she sees how “na’ve” she was. But Grentz loved the maturation process.

“The biggest satisfaction that I had as a teacher was watching her grow,” Grentz said. “She came in at one level … and that journey is where we go through.”

Wigley went from seeing the Sistine Chapel, to jokingly realizing that it is strange that Italians drink warm milk, and then back to the serious side of working her heart out at the Ubben Basketball Complex.

Wigley hopes that if her teammates were asked, they’d say she left an impact that will last.

Bjork believes so.

“(Wigley) showed a willingness to put the team first,” Bjork said. “She had an impact by sacrificing for the betterment of the team.”

More than anything else, either being a solid student or basketball player, Grentz said Wigley has a very big heart and can “accept challenges, weather challenges and succeed.”

“I have great respect for Erin and would do anything for her,” Grentz said.

Perhaps Wigley’s heart, dedication, desire and that competitive drive are reasons she is impressing the community with her innumerable and irreplaceable accomplishments.

“She’ll give you everything she has,” Grentz said. “She’ll put herself out there for you, and you can count on that.”