UTC's Chelsey Shumpert (25) dribbles the ball around Indiana's Tyra Buss (3). The Indiana Hoosiers visited the UTC Mocs in NCAA basketball action at McKenzie Arena on November 17, 2016. Jim Foster likes running with a pair of point guards in his system.
Because of early adjustments and injuries, it took a while for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball coach and his staff to figure out just who that duo was going to be this season.
The emergence of freshman Lakelyn Bouldin started to answer that question, but then redshirt junior Chelsey Shumpert went out with an injury and the offense sputtered at times during a four-game losing streak, the program's first since the 2010-11 season.
With Shumpert back in the lineup, the team rolled into its lengthy pre-Christmas break.
For the 5-foot-4 Shumpert, the change was new in some aspects. As a freshman, she played off the ball because the lineup included then-senior Taylor Hall, who was named the 2013-14 Southern Conference player of the year that season. The next season, senior Ka'Vonne Towns became a primary ball-handler. Last season was over for Shumpert after three games because of a knee injury.
So for the first time, she's the team's primary ball-handler and facilitator of the offense, with Bouldin playing more off the ball. Shumpert had six assists in back-to-back wins over Tennessee-Martin and Stetson on Saturday and Monday.
"She's learning how to play the game for others," Foster said Monday. "This is a sport where you play for others and not yourself. She has great decisions and good shot selection. She has taken that position and figured out how to do it in respects that she didn't know how before."
The team followed a season-high 80-point performance against UT-Martin with a solid 66-point performance against Stetson that featured a season-high 16 assists.
"We had a few good practices where we continued to push the ball, move the ball and get everyone involved," Shumpert said. "That translated to defense, so we basically push the ball and everything will work out in the end."
The Mocs (5-6) won't play again until Dec. 20 at Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, so they'll have even more time to acclimate to the new lineup and get a feel for each other heading into the conference schedule. After the trip to southwest Florida, they'll host second-ranked Notre Dame on Dec. 27 at McKenzie Arena and face Presbyterian on Dec. 30 in Clinton, S.C., before opening SoCon play Jan. 4 at Samford.
"Having Chelsey back helps very well," center Jasmine Joyner said. "I think it helps take the presence off of Lakelyn because she's a freshman. You have Keiana (Gilbert) and Queen (Alford), other 3-point shooters that are open as well.
"As you see, we've been moving the ball a lot and passing the ball very well. We're starting to find our game, and that's what we need."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.