In the Robert Louis Stevenson novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde,” a good-natured physician transforms into the evil Mr. Hyde after taking a potion. All it used to take for Jamie Caton to make a transformation from a soft-spoken coed to a fierce, “win at all costs” competitor was to slip on a basketball uniform. The 5-foot-10 forward for the Capital University women’s basketball team fouled out 10 times in the last two seasons while the rest of her teammates fouled 11 times combined. “I try to be a really nice person off the floor so people are shocked to see how intensely I play when they come to a few games,” says Caton, who leads the Crusaders in points (12.7 points a game) and in games fouled out (three) in the first 16 games of the season. “Coach (Dixie Jeffers) has said I’m the nasty girl on the court and the nice girl off the court. “Sometimes that nasty girl comes out and it gets me into trouble. In basketball you only get five fouls. I’ve had many games when I’ve used all five.” Caton used her intensity and aggressiveness to her advantage in a 74-72 win over Marietta on Jan. 22. Caton, who scored 12 points and had six rebounds against the Pioneers, forced two steals and hit four free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the win. Terri and John Caton, the forward’s aunt and uncle, were stunned when they watched the level of intensity their niece plays at during a recent game. “They said to me afterward ‘Gosh you’re so fierce out there. You’re just a brute,’” says Caton, who was nicknamed ‘Bulldozer’ when she played soccer for Hilliard Davidson. “I take that as a compliment. It’s just in my blood. Once I’m off the court I am back to my nice self I guess. Our coaches have told me all the time I’m of no use to the team if I’m sitting on the bench.” Jeffers, whose team was 10-6 overall and 7-3 overall after defeating host Baldwin Wallace 83-68 on Jan. 26, says Caton has done a better job this season of keeping that “nasty girl” in check. At a recent Crusaders’ game, Caton and another player started going after each other and the opponent eventually got whistled for a foul. After the whistle, a fan started screaming at her but Caton just walked away shaking her head and laughing. “We knew something had happened but (we didn’t know what) until after the game,” Jeffers says with an incredulous chuckle. “Apparently the fan in the stands asked her to ‘come take her on.’ I said to her ‘I saw you starting to laugh’ and she said she just didn’t know what else to do. “Two years ago, Jamie wouldn’t know how to handle any confrontation one on one. Now Jamie can laugh, articulate what she’s thinking and feeling and handle the situation much better. She is still a fiery player but she learned to control that fire.” Monitoring that flame is not the only improvement Caton has made to her game. Through 16 games, Caton was ranked 12th in the OAC in scoring and is shooting 42.3 percent from the floor (77 of 182) and 60 percent from the free throw line (48 of 80). This season opponents have worked on trying to frustrate Caton by double and triple teaming her at times. Jeffers says that has forced Caton to work on other things beside just driving to the basket. “I’m sure on scouting reports they’re going to try to come after Jamie and try to get into her head. (They want to) make her blow up and lose her focus,” Jeffers says. “She has been able to work through that and has done a much better job this year. “Jamie doesn’t mind taking the weight of things on her shoulders and carrying the team. Opponents aren’t going to allow her to do that. Trying to convince Jamie she’s not going to get to the hole because there’s a double team waiting for her has been difficult but she is an incredible passer.” The amount of attention Caton has received defensively has led to some bipolar scoring statistics. At the Hope College’s Post-Exam Jam, she hit a career-high 24 points with nine rebounds in a 73-65 victory over Robert Morris-Springfield (Ill.) on Dec. 14 and then topped that number with 26 points and five rebounds in a 93-68 loss to sixth-ranked Hope on Dec. 15. Caton followed the tournament up with a four-point performance in a 68-59 victory over Wilmington on Dec. 18. Caton says she’s learning to take advantage of whatever a team is giving the Crusaders. “I take (the double and triple teaming) as a compliment but it’s kind of showed my weaknesses this year because I haven’t been recognizing it,” she says. “Once I do, it is fun getting the ball out to our shooters. When their defenders sag in on me, it opens things up and everyone else can do the scoring.” Caton is inching toward a milestone that has never been on her radar. After the Baldwin-Wallace game, Caton has scored 844 career points. She would need to average 19.5 points a game in the final eight regular-season games or hope for a long tournament run to have a chance of breaching the 1,000-point plateau. “Obviously I would love to get that but that has never been a goal for me,” Caton says. “If I am not scoring and we can still get the win, that’s fine with me.” “To score 1,000 points in their college career means a lot to any player, but I think what is more important to Jamie is a team victory,” Jeffers adds. “If that is going to hinder us from winning then Jamie would sacrifice that in a heartbeat. Whenever we articulate to her, ‘This is what you’re going to have to do,’ she will just nod her head and say ‘OK coach.’”