Thursday, March 16, 2006

Tennessee's Hornbuckle cleared to play

Tennessee point guard Alexis Hornbuckle, thought to have been lost for the season when she suffered a broken wrist in a game on Feb. 12, has been cleared to play, the school announced Thursday.

"Following consultation with Dr. Robert Ivy, team orthopaedic hand specialist, Alexis has been cleared to play," said Jenny Moshak, the University of Tennessee Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Medicine. "She has been active in conditioning and practice for the last three weeks while wearing her GORE-TEX cast. Dr. Ivy has cleared her to play wearing a protective device."

Hornbuckle missed seven games with the injury, including all three SEC Tournament games for the Lady Vols. Tennessee won the league title with a 63-62 win over LSU.

"Emotionally, this is a great boost for Alexis and our entire team going into the NCAA Tournament," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "We recognize what Alexis has meant to our team this year and while injured her attitude has been tremendous as she has stayed mentally and emotionally involved in all of our games."

The 5-foot-11 Hornbuckle averaged 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and a team-leading 3.9 assists while starting 24 of 25 games.

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