As deep as the Marquette women's basketball team looked marching to five straight victories to start the season, there just weren't many minutes to go around.

But after the rough stretch in which Jocelyn Mellen fell victim to an ACL injury and Krystal Ellis lost her shooting touch due to her own knee problems, coach Terri Mitchell needed to do some lineup shuffling.

Lauren Thomas-Johnson, who started nine of the team's first 10 games, suddenly couldn't buy a bucket. Erin Monfre and Courtney Weibel both received starting nods in Thomas-Johnson's place, but each proved to be too one-dimensional.

Meanwhile, there was another player biding her time on the bench, waiting for an opportunity.

For sophomore Tatiyiana McMorris, the time had come.

McMorris, a highly-touted recruit from the Bronx, N.Y., has struggled to find immediate success at Marquette unlike fellow backcourt mates Krystal Ellis and Angel Robinson. Her improvement, however, has come at just the right time.

McMorris has averaged nearly seven points per game since earning the starting job six games ago against Oakland. While it may not sound like much, her play gives the struggling team a big boost, especially considering the early stages of the season when McMorris rarely left the bench.

"We knew 'Tatti' was very talented, but I think she had to learn the system and what we wanted out of her," assistant coach Cara Consuegra said. "It took her a little bit longer than other players, but the progress that she has made over a year and half now has been tremendous."

But the role of bench player is never an easy one, especially for McMorris, who didn't receive more than 13 minutes of action in any one of the team's first 11 games. That stretch included the first two games against Oral Roberts and Sacred Heart, in which she sat for the entire game. However, the lack of playing time didn't change McMorris' confidence.

"It was a situation that I knew my time would come," McMorris said. "I was still striving and playing hard no matter what, and when I got out there I played my hardest. Now that I've got more time, I'm just going to continue to do that."

Her ability to knock down 3-pointers and provide energy and athleticism has helped shoulder some of the scoring load usually delegated for Ellis and Robinson.

"She's got a lot of heart," Robinson said. "She gets a lot of the hustle play and gets everyone going and that's what we need. She brings it all the time, every game."

That includes the big games. In Marquette's upset of No.10-ranked Notre Dame last Tuesday, McMorris played perhaps her best game of the season, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes of play. Her two reverse layups were key in a second-half comeback that eventually proved too much for the Irish.

McMorris knows she has started only six games, but she's not looking to give up her new spot any time soon.

"Coach has given me the opportunity to get in a rhythm and play," she said. "I think this is a starting place for me, I'm only a sophomore, and I'm hoping this is a good start. So far it's been really good for me, and I hope I can keep it up."