Penny Davis didn't start out wanting to officiate the best basketball players in the world.

It just turned out that way.

Davis was a standout high school player at Union, then took her considerable skills toCarnegie Mellon University.

Now 30, Davis owns her own Internet consulting firm inSeattle, buildingWeb sites for businesses.

That allows her the flexibility necessary to pursue her real passion as a basketball official.

"A lot of my peers have a hard time fitting it into their schedules," Davis said. "They have to take a lot of vacation days, call in sick, invent a lot of dead relatives. I feel very fortunate. I have created a near perfect situation."

That situation might get even better soon.

This weekend, Davis will fly from Seattle to Boston to attend a WNBA tryout camp for officials.

If she is chosen to fill one of the vacancies, she will officiate league games during the upcoming season.

It is a two-day tryout with the first day dealing with rules while the second day consists of officiating a game between draft-eligible players.

Davis' work in NCAA Division I games earned her an invitation to the camp.

She also garnered special attention from the WNBA because of her work in the NBA developmental league.

NBA supervisor of officials Ed Rush took a personal interest in Davis, leading her to the developmental league and now to the WNBA tryout.

"It's a great opportunity for me," Davis said. "It's great to be recognized and to be looked at."

Davis, who is the adopted daughter of Union boys basketball coach Karen Davis, started officiating when she was 21.

At the time, it was just something to do to stay in shape after her college basketball career was cut short by injury during her senior year.

Once she moved toSeattle, her officiating career really took off.

She moved up from high school games to community college contests. Thenshe worked Division III and Division II college games until Division I conferences started clamoring for her services.

Each off-season, she attended multiple officiating camps to get better.

"That helped me more than anything," Davis said.

Davis recently officiated the NCAA women's tournament game between Brigham Young and Iowa.

During the college basketball season, she works for four conferences: The PAC-10, BigSky Conference, Western Athletic Conference and West Coast Conference.

She said she officiates almost every day of the week during the nonconference schedule and then up to two to four games per week once the conference season begins.

Even if she lands a job with the WNBA, she will continue to officiate college basketball.

Davis also has acquired the best thing an official can wear on the court: a thick skin.

Of all the levels Davis has officiated, she said high school fans and coaches offer the biggest challenges.

"Definitely high school fans are the most brutal," she said. "You have parents and brothers and sisters and students in the stands and they are very emotional."

Davis said she is able to tune them out, especially when they yell something that exposes their ignorance of the rules.

She said she has also learned to defuse coaches.

"If a coach has been fair to me and they yell about a call, I know I probably made a bad call," Davis said. "All you can do is say, 'You know what? I wasn't happy with that one, either.' What can they say to that? You just can't use it more than once a game or a season with that coach."

When Davis was asked how she would deal with her mother if she were officiating one of her games, the official in her came out.

"I wouldn't let her get away with some of the things she does," Davis said. "She crosses the line sometimes."

Would she hand out a technical to her own mother?

"If she deserved it," Davis said, laughing.

Davis' goals have changed. She once thought the ultimate goal was working a women's Final Four. Now, she is aiming for the NBA.

Violet Palmer is currently the only female official in the NBA.

"I really feel like I can get an opportunity to get a look from the NBA," Davis said. "The path has been laid by people like Violet Parker. They are looking for other women. I'm only 30 years old, so I am aiming for that."