Little by little, Abbey Cornelius is starting to understand that as much as she has been able to contribute to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball program, the coaching staff still believes there’s more she can do.
And in her three seasons, the coaching staff has been proven right.
The 6-foot-2 forward from Knoxville has added a new facet to her game each season with the Mocs. After averaging 2.9 points as a freshman in 2018-19, she has yet to score fewer than four in any of the Mocs’ 17 games this season. She shot 44% as a sophomore, but has raised that success rate to 54% as a junior. And with her 15 points in Thursday night’s 60-52 Southern Conference win at Wofford, she bumped her scoring average to double digits, at 10.1, for the first time this season.
But it’s not just points. In fact, the most notable jump this season for Cornelius is with her passing, as a tweak to the offense has her at more of a playmaker position for coach Katie Burrows’ team. She has handed out 42 assists this season, which is second on the team and one more than she had in her first two UTC seasons combined.
In the past five games, the Mocs have split series with SoCon-leading Samford (10-7, 7-1) and second-place Mercer (13-5, 7-2) before topping the Terriers to pull into a tie with them for third in the standings – UTC (10-7, 5-3) is at Wofford (9-6, 5-3) again at 2 p.m. Saturday – and Cornelius has been a big part of her team’s success in that stretch.