NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As the final minutes ticked off the clock, a feeling of angst rushed over Jence Rhoads.

For Rhoads, her four years on the basketball court for the Vanderbilt University women's basketball team was far too fleeting.

“I was just trying to hold it together,” Rhoads said of those final minutes of her final game with the Commodores, an 81-62 loss to Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament March 20. “It was kind of hard for me. I was just thinking, ‘Wow, this is the last time I will put on this uniform. This is the last time I will play with these girls.”

It was a rough game and a rough moment for Rhoads. But two weeks removed from the end of her collegiate basketball career, the Slippery Rock High graduate has been able to appreciate her experience and look forward to new challenges.

Rhoads finished her career with the Commodores as the only player in the program's history with more than 1,100 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds.

She also finished third all-time with 527 assists and fourth all-time with 4,082 minutes played.

“When I look back, I am very proud,” Rhoads said. “I'm very proud to be up there in the record books in all of those categories with with all the great players who played here.”

Rhoads said she already misses the little things about basketball at Vanderbilt: the time spent with her teammates on buses and planes, in locker rooms and training rooms, and at practice.

She misses interacting with her coaches and gleaning something new from them every day.

“It's your home away from home and they are another family,” Rhoads said. “You spend more time with them over four years than you do with your parents. I'm going to miss them.”

And they are going to miss Rhoads, who was one of only three seniors on the Vandy roster this season.

She became a mentor to an influx of talented freshmen — point guard Jasmine Lister in particular.

Lister led the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game. Rhoads was right behind her at 11.7 points per contest.

Rhoads led the team in assists, minutes played and steals.

She was named as an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press. Rhoads is the first Vanderbilt player to make the All-American team since 2007.

But her senior year did not end the way she would have liked.

For the first time in the last 11 seasons, the Commodores did not make it out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“It was different,” Rhoads said. “We had a bunch of young players and we had a lot of adversity to overcome. We all obviously would have liked it to end in a better way.”

Rhoads' basketball career, though, is by no means over.

She attended a free agent camp last weekend in Indianapolis — a sort of professional women's basketball combine — and fared well.

Rhoads said she is currently looking to hire an agent and hopes to land in a professional women's basketball league in Europe.

“I definitely feel like I can play and play well at the next level. It's a new process and a little scary,” Rhoads said. “I have some contacts in coaches and former teammates who are playing over there.

“It's a new adventure for me,” Rhoads added. “It'll be a new place. It'll be fun.”