SLIPPERY ROCK — Kelly Benson grabbed a roll of electrical tape and marked out a basketball key on her basement floor.

She scooted from side to side, trying to improve her lateral quickness for the Slippery Rock High girls basketball season that was rapidly approaching.

Benson wanted to play. Desperately.

The junior guard was tired of her perch on the bench, watching her teammates compete.

So she embarked on a campaign to improve her skills enough to play.

“I felt like I wasn't doing enough for the team because I didn't play,” Benson said. “Watching us lose (the District 10 5A championship game to Warren), I felt like I could have done something to help us win the game, but I was on the bench.”

Benson played rarely last season.

That has changed early in 2019-20.

Benson scored 16 points against Obama Academy Monday night and is averaging 10 points per game.

Her emergence couldn't have come at a better time for the Rockets, who are without last year's leading scorer, Maryann Ackerman, because of a torn ACL.

“It's just really different. I'm not used to it yet,” Benson said of her increased playing time and impact. “But it feels great. I worked for it.”

Slippery Rock coach Amber Osborn witnessed that renewed work ethic firsthand in the offseason as Benson went above and beyond to get better.

Including marring the family's basement floor.

“I don't think I'm surprised,” Osborn said. “It's what I expected. It wasn't handed to her. She basically was a gym rat. Even she'd admit she just coasted through her first two years, and now she's not only showing up any time she could, but also messaging me asking what's another workout she could do or what she could do to get her feet faster. I could tell she was dialed in.”

Benson acknowledged that she didn't always commit fully in the past.

She made the decision to change.

“I stopped making dumb excuses,” she said.

Osborn said Benson has radically improved every part of her game.

Benson's shooting has been a particular boon to Slippery Rock so far this season. She's already hit six 3-pointers.

Defense, Osborn said, is still a work in progress for Benson.

Osborn can sometimes be extra hard on her guards, including Benson. But the burgeoning star doesn't mind.

“She doesn't hold back,” Benson said, flashing a grin. “But I ask for it. That's how I'm going to get better. I need it.”

Benson wasn't sure how much she'd play this season after getting limited minutes in just 19 games in 2018-19 and averaging 1.5 points per outing.

She did have seven points against Conneaut last season, showing at least a flash of what was to come.

“The sky's the limit for her now,” Osborn said. “I don't want her to peak at the end of the season. I want her to peak next year as a senior. You just have to trust the process. Because she's had the roughest rout in terms of earning time, she will feel accomplished. She's had a taste of everything. She's had a taste of sitting and watching and now she's getting a taste of playing.”

It's a taste Benson wants to keep savoring.

“The goal was to start,” she said. “I just got a whole lot more competitive. In practice during shooting drills, I want to be the first to make them all. I need the competition.”

And Benson's mom has relinquished control of the basement floor — whether she likes it or not.

“My mom was mad at first, but she's OK now,” Benson said, grinning again. “There's marks on the floor from my shoes from me sliding, but it's cool. We're fine. She understands why I'm doing it.”