With very little turnover, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team will look very similar to how it looked last season.
The Mocs' games will not, however.
Coach Jim Foster's Mocs, who start practice for the 2015-16 season this afternoon, spent most of last season in the Top 25, headlined by wins over then top-10 opponents Tennessee and Stanford. They finished 29-4 for the third consecutive season, and while losing Ka'Vonne Towns and Destiny Bramblett to graduation, they seem to have restocked.
UTC's season opener is Nov. 13 at home against McNeese State in the first round of the Women's Preseason National Invitation Tournament, and when the teams step on the court, it will be under the new four-quarter format introduced by the NCAA this season.
Games will be played at a faster pace, which has been welcomed with open arms by the Mocs.
"It's going to be a more up-and-down game now," senior guard Alicia Payne said. "That's fine with us, since the majority of our team likes playing fast and up-tempo anyway."
Foster said Friday that the team's added depth - especially in the frontcourt - also will be welcome this year. Sophomore Ansley Chilton and redshirt freshman Ashlyn Wert, who at 6-5 1/2 is the tallest signee in the history of the program, will back up junior Jasmine Joyner in the post.
Joyner was fifth in the nation in blocked shots at 4.0 per game last year and was named first-team All-Southern Conference. Payne was the SoCon's defensive player of the year, while Keiana Gilbert was named all-freshman and Chelsey Shumpert was first-team all-conference.
Aryanna Gilbert returns after a knee injury sidelined her for all but eight games of the 2014-15 season, and juniors Moses Johnson and Sydney Vanlandingham provide versatile threats.
Jacksonville transfer Queen Alford, a 5-10 guard who was Atlantic Sun freshman of the year and second-team all-conference a year later, sat out last season and is eligible this year.
"We'll be able to play differently," Foster said. "Sometimes we'll maybe go with a big lineup. We're allowed to do a lot of different things as the season progresses."
That begins with Payne, who has been the catalyst with her long arms and pesky defensive nature. Her particular skills will be needed against a schedule that includes home games against Connecticut, Arkansas State, Harvard and Belmont and road games at Tennessee, Stanford and South Florida.
"I think we'll have a good season," the team's lone senior said. "We're excited about the teams we're playing, the schedule and how competitive it is. I think we're getting ourselves ready for the schedule.
"We're getting into the mindset that this isn't last year or the year before. We've had some big wins, but this is a whole different year and we have to work hard every day - whether it's in the gym or with weights - to do whatever to get ready for those games."
Payne has been part of 86 wins in her three-year career, missing only one game because of an illness, and could finish as the program's record holder in wins.
"I think that says a lot," she said. "This is a competitive program that wants to win. Even before I came here, the program was winning a lot of games and playing competitive teams.
"We're not the biggest school, but we go out, try hard and try to win, no matter who we play against."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.