Excuse Alicia Payne if she was a little confused Wednesday.
She’s not used to hearing somebody coming in to replace her during basketball games.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga guard – the team’s lone senior – has played 548 out of a possible 565 minutes in the last 14 games. She already was expected to be an important piece of the Mocs’ puzzle in 2015-16, and then point guards Chelsey Shumpert and Molly Melton were lost to season-ending injuries, leaving Payne as the team’s only healthy player at that position.
She has had at least one assist in 16 of the team’s 17 games and set a career high with 16 points in the Mocs’ 77-59 win over Western Carolina on Wednesday. She’ll be back at the lead guard this afternoon when the Mocs (12-5, 3-0) host UNC Greensboro at 2 at McKenzie, as they attempt to stretch their regular-season Southern Conference win streak to 52 games.
“I’m just trying to be out there and do whatever it takes to win,” Payne said. “When we lost Chelsey and Molly, I already knew I had to play more minutes, so I just try to take it for what it is and do my best.”
The 2014-15 SoCon defensive player of the year has attempted to be more of a scoring threat, which means being more of a willing shooter. She’s averaging a career-high 7.2 points per contest on 6.5 shots per game this season, which is up from 3.2 points on 2.9 shots per game in her first three seasons.
Just the threat of her taking open shots is starting to open up opportunities for teammates Queen Alford, Jasmine Joyner and Keiana Gilbert.
“It’s definitely been a learning experience,” Payne said. “I’m learning how to be a leader on the floor, but I’ve got a lot to learn. Coach (Jim) Foster always tells me what I can improve on, so I just try to be a leader for my team.”
Foster said earlier in the season that numerous point guards around the country are being asked to log 40 minutes a game. He’s had his senior leader do it on nine occasions, including an overtime game against Southern Miss in which Payne played all 45.
“She’s done a pretty good job,” Foster said. “She still takes some time off that I don’t like. She’s starting to understand what that is, and she’ll just keep getting better as a result. There’s more in her, and I’m asking for it all. Eventually, she’ll be there.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.