As a freshman, Ashlynn Shade had a simple directive: Score. By December, UConn had lost both Azzi Fudd and Caroline Ducharme for the season, leaving the team thin in the backcourt and short on offense. Shade was pressed into the starting lineup and quickly became a difference-maker, averaging 11.0 points on a .481/.356/.913 shooting split.

This past season, she did everything but. The junior set career-highs in rebounding (3.5), assists (2.8) and steals (1.8). She finished fourth on the team with 47 offensive rebounds, trailing only the bigs.

“Last year is where I developed the most in all aspects of my game,” Shade said earlier in the summer.

She had trouble putting the ball in the hoop, though — the hallmark of her game. Shade finished with career-lows in scoring (7.6 points), field goal percentage (40.4) and 3-point percentage (31.8).

Shade wasn’t blind to those struggles, either.

“I wasn't happy with the way I shot the ball throughout the year and I definitely think that's something I can improve upon,” she said.

It’s not as if Shade couldn’t hit anything all season, though. She got off to a rough start in November, but then sank 44.4 percent from three in December. She then sat at 36.0 percent over the final two months of the regular season before going ice-cold in the postseason. Shade went just 3-24 from behind the arc while missing her final 15 attempts from deep on the year.

Shade asserted that the problem wasn’t mental but mechanical.

“I don’t think it was a mental thing at all,” she said. “Something that my dad taught me growing up is that shooting the ball is footwork, follow-through and confidence. So if it's one of those three, you just diagnose that and then figure out what you need to fix next.”

At the same time, Shade doesn’t necessarily view her poor shooting as a negative. While she began her UConn career as a fairly one-dimensional player, she’s added to her game every year.

As a sophomore, she became more disruptive on the defensive end and increased her steal total by 20 (going from 37 to 57) despite playing over 300 fewer minutes. This past season, Shade emerged as a passer — her 110 assists were double her previous best — and on the boards, where she often crashed the offensive glass better than anyone on the team.

She believes it all worked out for the better.