UTC coach Jim Foster wants Keiana Gilbert to play more aggressively

UTC guard Keiana Gilbert, left, rebounds ahead of Wisconsin Green-Bay guard Jessica Lindstrom during the Lady Mocs' home basketball game against the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix at McKenzie Arena on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
UTC guard Keiana Gilbert, left, rebounds ahead of Wisconsin Green-Bay guard Jessica Lindstrom during the Lady Mocs' home basketball game against the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix at McKenzie Arena on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
photo Notre Dame's Brianna Turner tangles with UTC's Keiana Gilbert (20) on a rebound in first half action Tuesday at McKenzie Arena.

Although the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team's success hasn't been directly tied into the play of guard Keiana Gilbert throughout the season, one could say that her play has been a factor.

When she's been at her best and in attack mode, the team has experienced its best results.

The coaching staff wants more of that.

The 5-foot-11 junior, who has started all 81 games she has played at UTC, has endured career-low averages of 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game this season, when teammates such as Queen Alford, Lakelyn Bouldin and Chelsey Shumpert have done plenty of scoring.

"I know I have to stay more aggressive," Gilbert said after Tuesday's practice. "We have a lot more scorers offensively, so I probably don't have as big a load as far as scoring-wise, but I think I still have to stay more consistent and aggressive like usual."

Yet in two of the team's more solid victories, Gilbert has been good. She had 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a double-digits win over UT-Martin on Dec. 3. This past Saturday at Mercer, she had 15 points and made seven of her nine shots while playing all 40 minutes in yet another double-digits victory.

The reason the Mocs had so much success in those games wasn't solely because of Gilbert, but having her playing aggressively certainly helped.

"The games I'm aggressive is a positive effect for everybody else on the court, and they get aggressive, too," she said. "When I lay back a little, we get beat."

UTC coach Jim Foster said that when Gilbert is more aggressive, it makes everyone else on the court a little bit better, too. But sometimes she does a better job of guarding herself than the opposition.

"She needs to be what she's capable of being - they all have to do that," Foster said. "She's got some attributes others don't, and she needs to test herself more often, because when she does that she's pretty good."

So just because she's not averaging the 10.5 points she had as a freshman or the 12.6 she averaged last season, it doesn't mean she's having a bad season.

Or that she's not capable of those numbers.

"All players have their idiosyncrasies," Foster said. "Some players play too fast, some players don't look, some play with their heads down, not up. All have their own challenges.

"Hers is she needs to be more aggressive. She gives us another dimension, as do a couple of the other players within the framework of that aggression."

The Mocs return to competition at 2 p.m. Saturday, continuing Southern Conference play with a "White-Out" game East Tennessee State at McKenzie Arena.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.

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