Alexis Hornbuckle had an outstanding freshman season at the University of Tennessee.
But she is going to be asked to do more for the Lady Vols this year, so she is getting ready. Hornbuckle has spent the majority of the summer in Knoxville preparing for the upcoming basketball season.
“I have been working on my shooting,” Hornbuckle said. “Coach Pat [Summitt] asked me to work on that aspect of my game because I think I’ll be called on [to shoot] more.”
There has been little rest in the offseason for Hornbuckle.
“I’ve been taking classes, which ends this week,” she said. “And I have been working camps and working out. Shooting has been No. 1, but I have also been working on my strength and conditioning.”
The former Capital and South Charleston Class AAA all-stater and three-time West Virginia girls player of the year led the Lady Vols in assists, steals and defensive rebounds for the season, though she started just 21 of 35 games.
But even if Hornbuckle wasn’t penciled in the starting lineup, it wasn’t long before she made it to the scorer’s table.
“We had some injuries, but we were a pretty deep team to begin with,” she said.
Hornbuckle grabbed high-point honors in three high-profile games — against Louisiana Tech, UConn and a NCAA semifinal loss to Michigan State. For her efforts, Hornbuckle was a two-time Lady Vol Player of the Week and Co-Southeastern Conference Player of the Week once.
Playing for Summitt proved quite an experience last season as the coach reached the NCAA all-time basketball win record. Summitt finished the season with 882 career victories, breaking Dean Smith’s record of 879 career Division I victories with the North Carolina men.
“That was fun,” Hornbuckle said. “After the game, they announced the court was named for her and she was caught completely by surprise.”
Tennessee reached the NCAA Women’s Final Four before bowing out to Michigan State.
“It was great [making it to the Final Four],” said Hornbuckle. “But the atmosphere wasn’t much different from our regular-season games [at Tennessee], though. It was fun.’’
Never timid with her skills, Hornbuckle admitted that her confidence level is still growing.
“It’s an honor to play here,” she said. “It’s a whole new level of confidence. It adds a whole new swagger to your game.”
With former high school teammate Renee Montgomery heading to UConn this year, the possibility of matching two former West Virginia players of the year is an intriguing one.
“I can’t wait,” said Hornbuckle. “We still try to stay in touch. We haven’t played against each other since eighth grade when I was at Dunbar and she was at Hayes.”
The results?
“We won twice,” Hornbuckle said.
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