Hornaday, a four-year varsity letterman, quickly asserted herself as one of the Rio Grande Valley’s most dangerous and effective playmakers during her freshman and sophomore seasons.
The Diamondbacks’ star forward captured District 31-5A’s Newcomer of the Year award as a freshman and averaged a double-double as a sophomore.
In 71 games, she tallied 11.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 4.6 steals per game on her way to back-to-back 31-5A Player of the Year awards to begin her high school career.
After helping Pioneer capture its first district title in school history as a sophomore, however, Hornaday tore her ACL. It was a medical setback that sidelined her for more than a year and radically changed the course of her high school basketball career.
“It was a hard pill to swallow knowing I wouldn’t be able to play my junior year, one of the most important years an athlete can have in high school. Coming off two great years, I was looking to be even better,” Hornaday said.
“But things happen and God has a plan for everyone. He wouldn’t have put me through that if he didn’t think I couldn’t handle it. I’m so grateful for it because of the opportunities I’ve had these past few months and this last year, and I’m grateful for my past four years of high school.”
Instead of pursuing a third consecutive district MVP award, Hornaday spent her junior season undergoing a rigorous rehabilitation process and learning the game from a different perspective from the sideline.
She underwent knee surgery and began physical therapy at DHR Health in Edinburg, gradually re-learning to walk before building back up her strength and basketball repertoire.
“It was definitely a game-changer. I think most people think the hardest aspect of going through an injury like that is the physical part, but it’s not. It’s the mental part,” she said. “It was very hard to go through that, but I had a great support system, a great team and great coaches. Really just the Valley as a unit, they were all there with me. I never felt alone … and I think that’s what really helped me push through.”
Rather than withdrawing from the Pioneer’s basketball program, Hornaday embraced her newfound role as a player-coach.
She frequently studied film on the D’backs’ opponents and pointed out their weaknesses and potential vulnerabilities to her coaches and teammates, making herself an integral part of the team’s game-day preparation.
It’s an experience that helped the Diamondbacks on the court in the short term and boosted Hornaday’s long-term basketball IQ, a benefit that began to manifest itself in her return to the court for her senior year.
“I’m lucky that our Coach of the Year (Nicole Villarreal) let me be our coach on the bench,” Hornaday said. “I couldn’t be on the court, but she really made me feel like I was on the court helping offensively, defensively and in practice asking for my input.”
Hornaday became a vocal on-court leader for Pioneer and one of the Valley’s most efficient scorers in her return to competitive basketball during her senior season.
The Diamondbacks’ forward averaged 11.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.8 steals per night on a career-high 43% shooting mark during a shortened regular season while routinely finding ways to impact games beyond scoring.
“One of my coaches told me, ‘Find what you’re good at and stick with it.’ For me, that’s being a teammate and being a leader,” she said. “If I have a good shot, I try to find a teammate who has a great shot. … If my shot isn’t falling, offense isn’t the only thing. There’s defense, there’s passing and there’s being a teammate. I take being a teammate very, very seriously because that’s what being part of a team is.”
That selfless approach helped Hornaday and the Diamondbacks clinch a third consecutive District 31-5A championship and achieve unprecedented success during a deep postseason run.
Pioneer defeated Brownsville Pace, Victoria West and Victoria East for the program’s first wins in the area round and regional quarterfinals of the Class 5A playoffs and punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
“It was a dream come true to see everything we’ve worked for in the past four years come true,” Hornaday said. “It’s surreal. … Coach V and I talked about it since I was in eighth grade. We had this vision for this school and we made a promise. We fulfilled that promise this year.”
Hornaday’s clutch play in crunch time proved invaluable in comeback postseason wins over Victoria West and Victoria East.
Her pressure defense helped force several turnovers and fuel an 11-2 Diamondbacks’ run during the final 2 minutes to down West in the area round.
Hornaday notched one of the most impressive performances of her career in Round 3 against East. She scored a team-high 16 points in addition to posting seven assists, six rebounds and five steals and sank several free throws in the waning moments to propel Pioneer past the Titans.
It was a career-defining moment Hornaday was prepared for thanks to a drill called “Win the Game,” where Pioneer players were tasked with winning various late-game scenarios from the free-throw line in practice.
“I remember during that Victoria East game, we were up by one and I got on the free-throw line and had to make those. When I got there, I just remembered Win the Game,” she said. “We were ready for those situations in the games because we practiced it. We knew what to do and our coaches knew we knew what to do. They let us play and we executed.”
Hornaday’s persistence paid off both in the form of team success and individual achievement.
On top of boosting Pioneer’s profile across South Texas with her postseason play, Hornaday earned a spot on the 31-5A all-defensive team and a share of the district’s Player of the Year award, her third time garnering district MVP honors in three seasons.
She also became one of three Diamondbacks’ players to earn All-Region honors from the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches and scored her 1,000th career point during Sharyland Pioneer’s regional quarterfinal victory against Victoria East.
“It’s awesome, especially to be recognized as a team. We worked so hard and it was more than just one person,” Hornaday said. “I’m so honored and blessed to receive this award, but I don’t think I can be the lone recipient of this. You have other players like A’nnika Saenz, who did this not once but twice, and had a great season. You have Avery Moes, Abby Castillo and plenty of other people I’ve followed and had to go to (physical) therapy with at DHR.
“Especially with this COVID stuff everybody’s been going through, every single player who stepped on the court this year deserves this comeback award ... Click here to read full article
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