Freshman Alyssa Hollins has earned teammates’ respect with swollen lips and solid play.
Alyssa Hollins’ initiation to the Missouri women’s basketball team came in the form of stitches.
During a preseason practice, the 18-year-old Texan set a screen for fellow freshman Rachel Oswald during a shoot-around drill when Oswald turned around and ran into Hollins. Hollins cut her lip and required a stitch. Then came the swelling.
“You see how my lips are, well, a little on the large side anyways?” said a grinning Hollins, without any hint of self-consciousness. “So you can only imagine what they looked like swelled up.”
After about a week, the swelling began to subside, but not for long. Another practice, another collision with the lip, this time compliments of junior Carlynn Savant. The swelling began once again.
That was enough for senior Cherice Mack who decided, “we’ll just call you ‘Lip’.”
The nickname stuck, and it’s one that her teammates enjoying rubbing in.
“They try to get pictures of my lip now,” Hollins said, rolling her eyes. Then she pauses, smiles, and adds: “I love my teammates.”
Maybe that’s because the camaraderie on the team has impressed Hollins as much as the arena in which she plays.
“I really was surprised,” Hollins confessed. “I’ve not had any problems with anyone, which is unusual for a group of 14 girls who are together so much.”
But then while reflecting on her reasons for choosing Missouri over Colorado and Houston, it occurs to Hollins that she really shouldn’t be surprised at all. The team unity made an impression on her during her initial recruiting visit.
“When I came to visit, these girls looked like they wanted to be together,” Hollins said. “You can tell when people are forced to be together. These girls didn’t seem forced together.”
Something else also stuck out to Hollins on her visit.
“I noticed on my visit how they had so many inside jokes,” she said.
‘Lip’ seems to be in on those now, too.
She arrives each day with a goal of putting those infamous lips of hers to use in order to make practices, weight lifting and conditioning drills as enjoyable as the arduous tasks can be.
“I try to come in everyday with a smile on my face,” Hollins said. “There really is no use in pouting. So I make it my goal to brighten up everyone’s day.”
The smile seems to be contagious, as the women have embraced the teammate that they described as goofy and congenial. Oswald said that Hollins’ magnetic personality helped her adapt and feel more a part of the team.
“I’m usually a shy person, but not when I met Alyssa,” Oswald said. “We just clicked.”
Hollins has not had any trouble fitting in off the court, but that’s not all. She has also stepped up in the first six games of the season to show she can handle the guard position and mesh with her teammates on the court.
Coach Cindy Stein has given Hollins playing time in every game so far this season in an effort to prepare her not just for the next few years, but for upcoming conference games.
“It’s huge that Alyssa gets playing time,” Stein said. “It’s really important for us to get out of her what we can so, when Big 12 play comes around, we can rely on her more.”
Hollins has shown signs of a bright collegiate playing career. She has scored and had rebounds in all but one game this season. Her first collegiate 3-pointer came in a tournament game Nov. 25 against Towson and was a big one for the Tigers. With Towson up by 12 and halftime approaching, Hollins sank the basket which began a 27-7 run for the Tigers.
“That was huge,” said K-Kay Pickens, a fellow Texan and freshman. “She has shown that she can hit it when we need her to.”
After earning the Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Classic title last weekend with wins over Towson and Pittsburgh, Hollins and the Tigers are hosting this weekend’s State Farm Tiger Classic. The Tigers will face the Golden Lady Lions of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the first game at 5 tonight at Mizzou Arena.
Although Hollins is eager for the start of the Big 12 Conference season, she said she is using these early games as a way to transition into collegiate play.
“I’m still just a little in awe,” Hollins said. “I was like, ‘Wow. You never get a day off.’ I feel like the more experience you get the better because it’s all about respect here.”
Asked if she wishes she had a day off every once and a while, Hollins thought for a few seconds and then shook her head.
“No, to be honest, I don’t need anything else,” she said with an air of certainty. “But I think I knew that when I decided to come.”