Entering the 2017-18 season, Molly Melton had played only 33 minutes in her two-year University of Tennessee at Chattanooga career.
In a span of three games, she's more than tripled that.
Healthy for the first time since ninth grade, she said, the 5-foot-4 point guard has played all 40 minutes in consecutive games for the Mocs, who after a 0-3 start defeated Presbyterian at home and previously unbeaten Indiana in Bloomington, Ind.
Melton played turnover-free ball Monday against the Hoosiers, while chipping in a career-high 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting from 3-point range. She had six rebounds against Presbyterian and five assists and four steals in 28 minutes against Stetson.
"Molly is a player that I hope our freshmen are watching, paying attention to," UTC coach Jim Foster said after Monday's win. "She was injured often and wasn't a very good shooter, but she has spent a lot of time improving in that area, to the point where she's a confident 3-point shooter.
"Her job is to get the ball on offense, and if they forget about her she'll remind them."
Melton is 5-for-8 from 3-point range in her last two games.
She had two ACL injuries as well as a torn labrum during high school at Knoxville Webb and missed time during her first two seasons at UTC due to various injuries as well. Last year was the first time in five years she'd gone through a season with no surgeries.
Now healthy, she's been everywhere.
"It definitely feels good," Melton said recently. "Coach Foster likes to talk about 'the level' in practice - the level we need to play at and compete at every single day. So I go out every single day, grind in practice, stay mentally ready and focused, knowing that opportunity is going to come."
One thing Foster told Melton her freshman season was to learn how to "play under" players, using her relative lack of height as an advantage to pester opponents. In her two starts she's done that, shadowing Presbyterian guard Cortney Storey and Indiana guard Tyra Buss and holding them to at least five points below their scoring averages.
"Molly is awesome," senior Aryanna Gilbert said recently. "She dogs the ball; she makes it a point to go out and disrupt the other team's point guard. And she's very tough: Coach Foster gave her a shot and she came out and showed us what she could do."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.