Surely Jence Rhoads can't be that tough.She pulls her hair back into a ponytail and smiles in a way that completely disarms. She speaks softly and humbly. And when her first shot clanks off the rim, she shrugs her shoulders, shakes her head and says, "We didn't shoot much at practice today."This is in the bag.On this cold Saturday afternoon in the old Rock Box gym at Slippery Rock High, the game is HORSE and I'm feeling pretty good about my chances against the Rockets senior point guard, whose style of play has been compared to Sue Bird but who shoots with the precision of Larry Bird.How hard can this be?Then I realize this is Jence Rhoads, the school's all-time leading scorer in basketball AND in soccer, the homecoming queen, the girl who is geeky enough to play dance dance revolution, silly enough to do the riverdance and has an irrational fear of jellyfish.Yes. I'm in trouble.Then she dribbles to her right, darts to the left and pulls up for a 12-foot jumper that falls through the net as gently as her voice says "your shot."H."This might be a quick game," quips Slippery Rock girls basketball coach Adrienne Orris.Rhoads simply smiles that disarming smile.

HistoryRhoads got the name Jence from her mother, Melinda Rhoads, who became enamored with it during a tennis tournament. The wife of her mixed-doubles partner was named Jence.But being a Jence (pronounce Jen-see) comes with challenges.Teachers mispronounce it, especially substitutes. During roll call, they stumble over the name and call her Jen-ese or rhyme her name with "fence.""I'm like, 'It's Jen-see,'" she said. "It's hard sometimes, but I like it. It's unique."Someone with such unique basketball skills should have a unique name. Somehow, a name such as Sarah wouldn't do her justice.It wasn't long after Jence was able to pronounce her own name that she started to show basketball skills that caused everyone who saw her play to gape in awe.Every team she was on won, and she always was the star."Ever since I started, I kind of realized I was OK," she said.It helps that her father, Robert "Posey" Rhoads was a standout basketball player at Mercer High School before moving on to star at Wake Forest University. He also played professional basketball in Australia and New Zealand.Her mother played in the short-lived WBL professional basketball league and was on the 1984 Olympic handball team."I got some good genes, I think," Jence said.

Don't let the nice, girl-next-door exterior fool you. Jence Rhoads knows how to go for the throat. She has a mean streak."You have to shoot this one left-handed," she says, cocking back her off-hand and releasing a shot that rolls off the rim.She lets out a frustrated, "Oh!"Now it's time for me to go for the kill.If there has been one knock on Jence in a high school career that has featured 2,001 points, two Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Player of the Year Awards and enough accolades to fill the Rock Box, it has been her inconsistency as a 3-point shooter.So, I knock one down from the top of the key. Swish. Nothing but net. I can see the concern in her eyes."She's a pressure player, though," Orris says.The coach's words are prophetic as the only sound her shot makes is that of leather cutting through the nylon of the net."There was your chance right there," Orris says.O.

ObjectivesJence has become a surrogate coach, mother and older sister all rolled into one for the Rockets.She is by far the most experienced player on the roster. On any given night, the four starters who surround her are a senior who never played a varsity minute before this season and three freshmen, including her twin sisters.The first player off the bench is a sophomore; the next two are freshmen."I never played with any of the kids until this year," she said. "They need a lot of guidance."The youth movement has not tempered her goals.Jence wants to win. She wants to win now.She wants to get back to the District 10 title game, where the Rockets lost to Franklin in overtime last year while she was stuck on the bench with five fouls and her head in her hands.Getting back to the district title game looked like a pipe dream not long ago.The Rockets were a struggling .500 team, Jence had a gimpy left ankle that slowed her, and the young players surrounding her were playing like the youngsters they are.Then Slippery Rock knocked off Sharon and General McLane, teams that had a combined 32-3 record, in the same week.Jence put up startling numbers in the two victories: 60 points, 23 rebounds, 20 assists and 14 steals.Number are great. But with a young team, what she does behind the scenes has been just as important."I've taken on more of a responsibility and a leadership role," Jence said. "Now, as a senior, I know I have to do a lot more."

Jence has a switch. She flicks it on at just the right moment, when her team needs a key bucket, a key rebound or a key assist. The calm is gone. All that is left is determination.She calls for bank shot off the glass. Perfect.Orris, perhaps sensing my plight, tries to coach me."You have to be at 45-degree angle and bank it off the corner of the square," the coach says.I miss anyway.R.

RecordsThe number was there. It was in the back of her mind. She tried not to think about it, but every now and then it crept into her consciousness.Two thousand.Jence wanted to score 2,000 points in her career, and with a 29-point effort at home against Strong Vincent Monday night, she did. She also became the first Butler County area basketball player, boy or girl, to accomplish that feat."It's a lot of points," she said. "At the beginning of the season, I thought it would be more important, then I got hurt and I wasn't full strength. Then, it didn't seem as important because I didn't think I would be able to get it."But scoring records mean little to her in the grand scheme of things. Jence's perfect ESPN highlight is not a circus basket, but a crisp pass to a teammate for an easy layup.She's a John Stockton in an Allen Iverson world.

Jence likes the old Rock Box. It's smaller. It has charm and she's always shot well there."Sometimes I wish we were still playing here," she says, then sinks another jumper. "I have a lot of memories here — good and bad. But, I like the new gym, too."It doesn't matter where she plays. It could be in a $1.5 million gym, a closet with hoops like the old Rock Box or on a playground somewhere with crooked rims, rotting backboards and chains for nets.With no one guarding her, she can hit shots at will.S.

SchoolsJence dreaded Mondays.Monday was the day the mailbox overflowed with letters from colleges.Jence was ill prepared for all of the attention.She was the ranked as the No. 8 college prospect in the country by Scout.com and made countless visits to schools all over the Midwest and South.She had her heart set on one school — Vanderbilt.But Vandy wasn't biting — at least not at first."It was very tough," she said. "Plus, I'm very indecisive, especially with my dad wanting me to go to (Wake Forest)."Wake had offered her a full scholarship and she was set to sign on the dotted line before Vandy came through with an offer.Then the hard part came: breaking the news to her father."He obviously favored Wake, which was a good option for me, but I favored Vanderbilt because of their history and the fact they were ranked," Jence said. "I always wanted to play at that level, and I thought Vanderbilt would be the best choice for me."

It's crunch time, and Jence wants the ball.She stands in front of the hoop, balances the basketball on her left hand and calls another southpaw shot. This time, it falls through."You didn't know he was left-handed, did you," Orris says, shooting me a smile. Unfortunately, I am not left-handed.The basketball comes off my hand like a dead bird, falling to the floor with a thud before it even reaches the rim.It's over.E.

EmotionsJence doesn't like to think of the day when she takes her Slippery Rock uniform off for the last time."It'll be sad to not play with everyone again," she said. "It will be sad not playing in my hometown again."She'll shed no tears nor gaze longingly around the gym to log the memory for all time. There's more basketball waiting for her in Tennessee.But she does enjoy being a part of Slippery Rock Nation.Following a 42-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist game against General McLane, her legions spilled onto the court, camera phones in hand, to snap a picture of the scoreboard for posterity."I'm going to miss that," she said. "I'm running out of games."Much like I ran out of time in HORSE."Obviously, I don't like to lose," Jence said, flashing that disarming smile again, "no matter who it is."

<b>1 — </b>games with 40-plus points<b>3 — </b>games scoring in single digits<b>8 — </b>fewest points scored in a game<b>10 — </b>games scoring 30-plus points<b>20.01 — </b>average points per game in her career<b>27 — </b>consecutive games scoring at least 10 points to start her career<b>42 — </b>most points scored in a game<b>51 — </b>games scoring 20-plus points<b>55 — </b>consecutive game streak of scoring at least 10 points from her sophomore to senior seasons.<b>100 — </b>number of games she has played in her career<b>1,077 — </b>points scored in her junior and senior seasons<b>2,001 — </b>number of points in her high school career so far