Anyone watching a Lady Vols game recently has seen the future.
That future starts now, with a talented group of freshmen beginning to make a serious impact on the fate of Tennessee’s season.
The role of the freshmen became forcibly enhanced when senior guard Loree Moore was pulled from the lineup to undergo a tonsillectomy immediately following a loss to Duke in early December. With her absence and the lingering injury to freshman backup point guard Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood, freshman shooting guard Alexis Hornbuckle was pushed into the spotlight as the starting point guard.
Hornbuckle’s impact showed itself immediately against DePaul.
In her debut in the starting lineup, Hornbuckle ran the Lady Vol offense to near perfection in the second half, picking up 15 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes of play. What had been a discombobulated Tennessee offense in the opening half turned into an effective machine against No.15 DePaul in a 78-63 victory.
“Alexis started on her heels and ended on her toes,” UT coach Pat Summitt said. “She made an adjustment at halftime. She was very aggressive and really created opportunities for us.”
Hornbuckle took her act on the road a few days later, tossing in 17 points and grabbing five steals in a 70-59 win over Louisiana Tech. Junior guard Shanna Zolman added 15 points and five steals as the team shot an uncharacteristically-high 45.6 percent from the field for the game.
Another heralded freshman made her debut in the Lady Vols’ next game, a win over TCU. Wiley-Gatewood made her debut successfully, wowing the crowd with thread-the-needle passes and hitting three of five shots from beyond the arc.
Against the Horned Frogs, Tennessee displayed a balanced effort with four players in double figures, led by Shyra Ely’s 23. The team as a whole shot 44.1 percent in the 82-55 home victory.
Anyone leaving their seat before the buzzer during the game against No. 2 Stanford missed out on the excitement as Zolman broke out of a shooting slump to hit a shot taken from just beyond the ‘T’ in the Tennessee logo at midcourt to win the game, 70-67. It was only Zolman’s second made shot of the day, having gone two-for-six for the contest as the entire team shot 37 percent.
“We had a lot of people who made big plays tonight, and none of them was bigger than the last one,” Summitt said.
On a four-game winning streak, the Lady Vols ran head-first into a team that turned out to be women’s basketball’s hottest. Rutgers dominated Tennessee from start to finish in UT’s first game following the Christmas holiday.
The Scarlet Knights went on to defeat No.4 Texas and top-ranked LSU as they ascended from No.24 in the nation to No.4 in this week’s rankings.
“We weren’t good in any aspect of our game tonight,” Summitt said following the loss.
Tennessee overcame 37-percent shooting and a lackluster offensive effort overall to defeat Old Dominion. Instead of a rookie show, the Lady Vols were led by upperclassmen as Ely scored 20 points and Jackson had 19. ODU shot 18.4 percent from the field in the second half, leading to a 68-58 victory.
For the four years Diana Taurasi roamed the court for Connecticut, it seemed as if every lucky break in the UT-Connecticut game would go the Huskies’ way. In this season’s matchup, those breaks finally went to Tennessee.
Three Lady Vol freshmen impressed upon the Husky crowd how good they will be, as Nicky Anosike, Alexis Hornbuckle and Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood combined for 34 points. Wiley-Gatewood’s impact was most impressive, as she hit a 3-point shot and notched a 3-point play in the last minute of play to give UT the lead after being down by as many as 12 points. UConn forward Ann Strother missed two of three free throws with 3.9 seconds remaining to give the Lady Vols a 68-67 win and a 10-3 record overall.
“In the second half we really maintained our intensity,” Summitt said. “We shared the basketball and played more efficiently in the half-court (offense) because we didn’t take quick shots and our rebounding was better.
“I thought to myself this morning, ‘It’s about time Tennessee won one.’ It’s a great win for us.”
With a blend of upperclassman strength and freshman fire, Summitt thinks perhaps she’s found a good combination.
“I wanted so much for the seniors to have this opportunity,” Summitt said. “Without our youth, our freshmen, they might not have had it.”
