University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball coach Wes Moore described Kylie Lambert as "relentless" in chasing down rebounds and in the junior wing's overall style of play.
"I think Kylie's just playing extremely hard on both ends of the floor," Moore said after the Lady Mocs' 76-39 rout of Kennesaw State on Monday.
That game was a typical one for Lambert. She scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and did a lot of little things to help UTC (5-3) to an easy win. The Lady Mocs are back in action tonight against Belmont (2-8) at McKenzie Arena.
In half of UTC's games this season, the former Times Free Press area player of the year from McMinn Central has led the Lady Mocs in scoring (either alone or shared the high), and she's been the leading rebounder three times.
She's third on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game, second in rebounding at 7.8 and in the top three in several other categories.
"I felt like when we recruited Kylie we were getting a good player, and I think she's really coming into her own this year," Moore said. "She just gives us such effort on both ends. She's making plays on defense, she's getting boards, she's knocking down 3s, she's going to the rim -- she's doing a lot of things and is a very versatile player."
Lambert said she likes doing a lot of little things to help UTC. Moore actually has to urge her to shoot more often because she's at times a little too unselfish.
"I definitely enjoy rebounding and getting the ball to my open teammates rather than shooting," she said. "He does yell at me to shoot."
Against Kennesaw State, Lambert was hot early and Moore didn't have to tell her to put up shots. Lambert hit four straight 3s in the span of about nine minutes in the first half as UTC took command of the game.
"When she hits a couple, look out because she's going to be happy," Moore said. "I'd like to see, on a night when maybe she misses a couple, her say, 'To heck with that' and hit the next four or five."
Lambert and forward Taylor Hall have led a Lady Mocs surge in rebounding. UTC has averaged nearly 16 more rebounds a game than its opponents in its past four games.
"[Moore] definitely wants us crashing the boards, especially the wings and post players," Lambert said. "He wants us crashing the offensive boards so we can get second looks, and good things on the offensive end will come if we work hard on defense."
UTC is 6-3 all-time against Belmont, including a 66-61 win in Nashville last season.