University of San Francisco Athletics

More with Alexa You might not know that … I am a huge foodie and I'm also an ice cream addict. I don't like to admit it, but I am. It's funny, I try to limit myself to three times a week, but I feel like I work hard enough to have some ice cream. If I'm just getting Ben and Jerry's I get a pint of cookie dough, but if I'm going to Coldstone I get sweet cream with sprinkles and cookie dough. I'm a huge fan of the pie milkshakes at Chili Pies, and yes I'm addicted to that. *** Pre-game primer … I used to be really ritualistic, but I felt like I needed to calm it down because if something didn't go right with my ritual I would freak out and think I was going to play bad. But I have a few. First of all, on game days I have to drink coffee before every game. I have to have my coffee. Next, before every game and practice I have to brush my teeth. Also, on game days whenever I'm putting on my ankle braces and tying my shoes I have to listen to Michael Jackson's Black or White. *** After USF … I'm planning on going back to Texas. I have a year of eligibility so I think I'm going to use it, but I haven't decided yet. I figure I might as well try and get part of my grad school paid for by playing basketball. But I want to do something a little less intense than Division I basketball. *** Texas Two-Step … Some things I miss most about Texas is my family, the weather – I like the heat, I like the sun, I like being tan. Breakfast tacos, Bluebell ice cream, having a car, wide open spaces, and my dog, Bob. *** Leaving on a jet plane … When I leave San Francisco, I'll miss my teammates and my coaches the most about USF, and definitely all the restaurants. I like being able to walk somewhere and always seeing something different and weird, so that quirkiness of the city, and being able to go to the beach. *** When she's gone ... Thus far in her collegiate career, Hardick has amassed 190 career points and 54 3-pointers - primarily in two seasons on the court. She currently ranks in the top 20 in USF's all-time record book for 3-point shooting percentage, hitting 35 percent of her attempts from beyond the arc. She is a two-time WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention and senior captain of the 2013-14 squad. She will graduate with a degree in finance from USF.

"There's a saying that Coach Azzi says all the time –
'People give up right before they are on the brink of success'."

Alexa Hardick began her prep career at Bishop Lynch with a bumpy start. As the lone freshman on a senior-laden championship squad, the guard from Dallas, Texas, initially struggled to find her role for the tradition-rich Lady Friars. She mulled over transferring before eventually heeding the advice of her parents to continue on her current path through high school.

That path translated into four-straight TAPPS state championships and individual accolades as she cemented herself as an offensive sharpshooter. She was presented with the opportunity to play basketball at San Francisco. After falling in love with the city on her visit, Hardick began her journey in the Green and Gold in the fall of 2010.  

"I didn't expect to play a lot in college," Hardick recalls her first season at USF. "In a way you always do, but in my mind I was like I'm going to work as hard as I can to get playing time; I'm going to outwork everybody. And I feel like I did, yet I didn't play. I wanted to play, but I guess at the time it just wasn't my role."

As a freshman, Hardick saw action in 10 games with limited playing time. As a sophomore her collegiate basketball career turned ever bleaker as she watched the full season from the bench. Her No. 21 never got called to enter the game. Hardick became a spectator rather than a participant to the game she had played since childhood and that had paved her way to USF.

"I remember specifically at the end of my sophomore year we were having our post-season meeting and Coach Azzi was like, 'I'm going to be really honest with you Tex. I don't see you ever playing here.' I appreciated her honesty, and she was like if playing means more to you than school and the team, then I don't want you to be stuck in a situation where I've led you on.

"I thought about transferring, but my parents kept reminding me as much as I was here for basketball it's about the education, and I was on a full scholarship at a great university and getting a great degree. My dad was like, you need to stick it out, you never know what could happen. You never know when your time could come. And I was like, she told me my time is never going to come, dad."

Leaving campus after her second year on the Hilltop, Hardick decided to return home to Dallas for the summer to train on her own and learn to not only accept her role as a sideline supporter, but to embrace it.

"It just kind of clicked to me that everybody has a role and this is my role, and I just embraced it," she says. "It's not about me, it's about the team. I just did my best to be really energetic at practice and during conditioning and become a leader through example."

As her junior season commenced, Hardick again started the year as a spectator, not seeing the court until USF's ninth game against Notre Dame de Namur. She played in one more non-conference contest before the calendar turned to 2013. By that point in the season, the Dons' roster was depleted by injury, and Hardick was pushed into a more prominent role on the court, almost by default.

She began to record big minutes as USF hit the road at BYU and Pepperdine. She began to demonstrate that sweet outside shot in game after game, sinking nearly everything she tossed near the basket. And by USF's final game of January, Hardick posted a career game at Bay Area foe Saint Mary's, going 6-of-8 from beyond the arc, one 3-pointer shy from tying the school record. Her 18 points led the Dons that day, and with the USF bench becoming thinner and thinner, Hardick's time on the court began to bloom.

Just like her father Tom had said the summer before, her time had come.

"When I look back, it was kind of a whirlwind for me, to be honest," Hardick says of her junior year. "And it was kind of cool! When you first start playing nobody knows who you are, so they weren't guarding me. The whole time at USF I've always thought I'm the best shooter on the team, and I've always been like, hey if I do ever go in I'm going to shoot it, because I'm going to make it. One of the hardest things is keeping your confidence, knowing who you are through adversity."

As the season concluded, Hardick finished with a .370 3-point percentage, and sunk her shots at a .397 clip during West Coast Conference play, good for third in the league. As she prepared for her final season at USF she dedicated herself to playing a new role for USF – leader.

"I realized that's one thing we might have been kind of lacking in previous years is really strong leadership by example, and I just kind of tried to take on that role," she says. "I think I really tried to set an example for the freshmen coming in starting in the summer, just trying to win everything in conditioning and doing my hardest in the weight room and being up early to practice to get extra shots up."

Her hard work and determination didn't go unnoticed, as she as a unanimous selection for team captain. But what was her role going to look like on the court?

"Toward the beginning when we first started practice I was in the rotation doing well, and then we started playing games. I kind of got out of the rotation and I was like here's another year sitting on the bench."

Hardick spent the non-conference season again as an observer, hitting the court for one, two, three minutes a game, when the contest was all but finished. But similar to the path the year prior, Hardick began to hear her number called as conference play took off. And by the end of January, one year since that banner day in Moraga, Hardick reached another collegiate milestone.

Not only did she hear her name called, it was called during the starting lineup at Portland where Hardick went off for a career-high 21 points as USF swept the season series from the Pilots. She started the next six games for the Dons and closed out the regular-season shooting 36.6 percent from the floor.

"First of all, it's perseverance," Hardick ponders what she's learned from her basketball career. "I've never really had trials in my life, and I think it's a good lesson to learn before you get out of college. I'm sure in the real world if I get a job and I want to move up, it's not going to come easily. It's not going to happen when you want it to happen. And my time at USF has taught me that.

"There's a saying that Coach Azzi says all the time – 'People give up right before they are on the brink of success,' and I just think that it's taught me just to keep going. Even when you think you're done, you have more left. If I can do that, I feel like I can do anything."

Hardick embarks on her final week as a Don as USF prepares for the conference championships, reflecting on the changes she's experienced through basketball. From staffing to culture changes to personal growth and development – on the sidelines and on the court – Hardick continues to preach perseverance.

"I think that there have been a lot of changes in my four years here, and I think that even going into the tournament you never really know what could happen. When we're talking and communicating on the floor, we can play with anyone.  It's still about perseverance, because you never know what can happen any given day. That's the beauty of basketball."