MEADVILLE — Zoe Soilis was a dangerous scorer at Freeport High School with 1,000 career points and the school record for 3-pointers made.

But when the guard got to Allegheny College, she reinvented herself.

“The first three years, I focused on defense because that's where I could make an impact,” Soilis said. “Defense is all hustle and I thought I could help much better on defense by just doing that.”

Soilis made herself into an exceptional defender and helped the Gators on that end.

She started all 25 games as a freshman and has made 72 starts in her career, including all nine this season for Allegheny.

What has changed in her senior year is her offensive punch.

Soilis leads the Gators with 15.1 points per game. She scored 34 recently against Penn State Behrend and has scored in double-digits in every game but one.

“This year, the offense has come,” Soilis said. “I've definitely been shooting better and taking more shots. I'm making more shots — my percentage is also going up on my 3-pointers.”

The difference?

Confidence, mostly. And also necessity.

Allegheny's leading scorer from a season ago, Delaney Arbore, graduated and the Gators' second-leading scorer, Rylee Donovan, has just returned after a torn ACL.

Soilis figured it was time to dust off her shooting touch.

“I just got more confident and I started playing with a lot more confidence,” Soilis said. “One of my big personal goals for this year was to score more.”

Soilis averaged 6.2 points per game during her freshman season and 5.2 as a sophomore.

Last year, she bumped that up to 7.9 per contest.

That has nearly doubled this season.

Soilis also leads Allegheny in 3-pointers with 21 and in minutes played at 32.4.

Soilis is making 81 percent of her free throws and is also averaging 4.4 rebounds per game.

She's found a way to score in a variety of ways.

“I guess if I shoot a couple of 3s and they're not going in, I'll try to find other ways to score until they start going in. Even if I'm missing, they have to come out and defend and that opens things up. I'll try to get to the line or the hoop.”

Soilis has had to make time to improve her skills this offseason.

She had a full-time internship during the summer at Sonneborn in Petrolia, which made getting into the gym and the weight room a challenge.

Soilis found a way.

“We have a shooting gun at my house,” Soilis said, “so that helps.”

Soilis has never been one to shy away from work.

During a family vacation once while in high school, she found a gym in her hotel and put up some shots.

It was all part of her quest to get off 10,000 jumpers that summer.

No vacation when it comes to the family business — her father, Fred, is the Freeport girls basketball coach and her two younger sisters, junior guard Grace and freshman guard Ava, are on the team this year.

But for Zoe, her basketball career is careening toward an end.

“I can't believe I'm a senior,” she said. “It's just gone by so fast. Sometimes I forget I'm a senior.”

Soilis, though, isn't dwelling on the coming finality. Instead, she's hoping to help make Allegheny the best it can be.

The Gators are coming off 6-19 and 6-20 seasons, but have already won five games this year.

“One of my team goals was to win more games, which we are doing,” Soilis said. “My teammates (one of which is fellow Freeport grad Jenna Manke) have helped me out a lot.”