Notre Dame alum looks to soar back to March Madness with Skyhawks

MARTIN, TN — If any local athlete had a 2024 to remember, it was Notre Dame Regional High School alum Lexi Rubel.

In her only year spent playing college basketball with her sister, Tori Rubel, the UT Martin Skyhawks returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.

She grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists in the Skyhawks’ 72-45 loss against Holy Cross in the First Four rounds. Despite the loss and missing out on sharing the court with basketball star Caitlin Clark in the first round, Rubel described her time at the NCAA Tournament as “a really cool experience.”

“That’s why I wanted to come here,” Rubel said. “I know that we can go to the tournament.”

The 2024-25 women’s basketball season has been one of adjustment for the eldest Rubel sister. With Tori now playing ball at Columbia College, Lexi is back to being the lone Rubel among the Skyhawks, who currently sit at 2-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.

Another adjustment for Rubel has been her role among the Skyhawks, which has been one of the premier programs in the Ohio Valley Conference since head coach Kevin McMillan arrived at Martin in 2009. While a fixture in the starting lineup since her freshman year, Rubel has taken a significant step back in the scoring department, dropping from an average of 8.6 points per game last year to 3.6, which is currently a career-low.

However, she continues to be heavily relied upon on the defensive end. Rubel averaged 7.1 rebounds last year and is second on the Skyhawks this season with 4.6 boards per game. She is also among the team leaders in assists per game with 2.1.

“I just do whatever needs to be done,” Rubel said. “Sometimes I can score a little more, sometimes I get big rebounds at the end. Sometimes when my teammates are on fire and I just find them (for the assist). I just want to do whatever it takes to win every game.”

Rubel led the Skyhawks with six rebounds and three assists during their 85-69 win over Southeast Missouri State on Saturday, Jan. 4, in Martin, Tennessee.

“I need to pick up the scoring quite a bit,” said Rubel, who only scored four points on all free throws in the contest, “but my teammates have been picking up my slack really well. So I’ve just been able to find them.”

The Skyhawks were led by Shae Littleford’s 23 points, Anaya Brown’s 20 points, and Kenley McCarn’s 15 points.

“We have a lot of different and important pieces,” Rubel said. “We have a lot of talent on this team, and I think really a majority of our players would start on any other team in the [OVC].“

The Skyhawks continued their domination over the Redhawks, having won nine of their last 11 matchups against them. McMillan improved to 29-4 against SEMO during his tenure at UTM.

“It’s a good feeling,” Rubel said on beating the Redhawks. “We know every time we come and play SEMO it’s going to be a good game. We just had to give it our all and it ended up working in our favor.”

The Redhawks were led by freshman Zoe Best, who scored 23 points on 8-of-21 shooting including 4-of-10 from the three-point line. Skylar Barnes scored 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and Ainaya Williams added 13 points.

The Redhawks started the game down 7-0 early in the first quarter and played catch up ever since. SEMO entered the fourth quarter within four points of UTM (55-51) and was only down 65-60 with six minutes left in the game. However, the Skyhawks went on to a 20-4 run through the final minutes to ice the game.

The Redhawks and Skyhawks will meet again at SEMO on Thursday, Jan. 30. While the novelty of playing at the Show Me Center has worn off by now, it’s still a road trip Rubel always looks forward to.

“I still love going there,” Rubel said. “I always play good at SEMO so I enjoy that.”