NASHVILLE — Jence Rhoads the passer is morphing into Jence Rhoads the scorer.

Just like old times.

The Slippery Rock High graduate and junior point guard for the 16th-ranked Vanderbilt University women's basketball team is taking more shots in practice — and in games, too.

It is a different role for Rhoads, who spent her first two seasons with the Commodores as an assists machine, rarely taking a shot.

She's still passing the ball — her 6.3 assists per game lead the team — but scoring has become a top priority.

"I worked on it all summer," Rhoads said. "I work on it every day in practice. Shooting more in practice makes me comfortable shooting more in games. I'm much more confident."

That shooting confidence yielded a career-high 17 points Sunday in a 79-73 overtime win against Western Kentucky.

Most notable were her seven points in overtime when she looked to put a young 8-1 Vandy team on her shoulders.

"It definitely gives me more options," Rhoads said. "If they aren't going to guard me, I'm going to look to score. That gets more of my teammates open and makes them better."

Rhoads always has made the players around her better. She did that at Slippery Rock by scoring 2,170 points in her prep career.

As a senior with the Rockets, she helped a team with three freshmen starters get to the PIAA quarterfinals.

This year at Vanderbilt, she is surrounded again by three freshmen in the lineup.

Even Rhoads can't help but see the parallel.

"It's a little different, obviously," Rhoads says, chuckling. "But it is similar. We do have a lot of younger players getting a lot of playing time. I'm just doing what I can to help them along. If that means scoring more, I will score more."

Rhoads is averaging 12.3 points per game, almost double the 6.3 she averaged a season ago.

Rhoads was third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio last year and she ranks high in that category again with 57 assists to 23 turnovers.

"I take a lot of pride in that," Rhoads said. "I value every time I have the ball, every possession."

Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb stressed to Rhoads that she wanted her point guard to be more aggressive to the basket.

She wanted Rhoads to be more than just a supporting player. She wanted Rhoads to be a star.

"She is very important," Balcomb said. "Jence is a really good basketball player. She is an awesome basketball player in practice but to go to a game, she would rather distribute it and not make mistakes and not turn it over."

That has changed this season.

Instead of looking for an open teammate, Rhoads is attacking the hoop.

When opponents play off her, like they did most of last season, she is making them pay by draining jumpers.

Her shooting is at a career high 47.9 percent. On defense, she continutes to hound foes, recording a team-high 15 steals.

"She's just playing both ends of the floor extremely well," Balcomb said. "She's in great position to challenge shots. She's just very smart right now and she is making good decisions on offense. I am very pleased with her game. As Jence's getting better, we're getting better."

Perhaps the biggest change has come off the court.

With youth all around her, Rhoads has added leader to her to-do list.

Never vocal — she speaks softly and rarely raises her voice louder than a library whisper — Rhoads has had to speak up during games and in practice this season.

"I'm not the most vocal person, but I'm improving on that," Rhoads said. "At practice, I'm trying to make my voice heard. We need vocal leaders, and I'm trying to be one of them."

Rhoads and Balcomb share a close relationship. They often watch film together and toss out opinions on how to attack the next opponent.

With 78 games under her belt, Rhoads said she believes the best is yet to come.

"I definitely feel a lot different," she said. "I feel like I know what I'm doing."