A swimmer and a soccer player while growing up in Ireland, Lockport’s Lucy Hynes started to play basketball once a week during both seventh and eighth grade.
Her family, however, moved to the area before her freshman year. She tried out for the girls basketball team and was happy she made the freshman team for the Porters.
But she also knew she wasn’t in Ireland anymore.
“I was looking at the varsity girls and thinking they were so good and so fast,” Hynes said. “It was a goal for me to make the varsity.”
That goal was accomplished as a sophomore when she came off the bench in the first year for coach Darien Jacobs at Lockport. She was given more responsibility last season as a junior.
Now, the 5-foot-8 senior guard runs the show and is the team’s leading scorer. Points weren’t plentiful Tuesday night, but Hynes and senior forward Alaina Peetz had eight apiece for the host Porters in a 41-34 SouthWest Suburban Conference victory over Lincoln-Way Central.
Six players scored in a 13-0 run in the second quarter to put Lockport (8-0, 3-0) ahead to stay. Evelyn Ingram contributed seven rebounds, Peetz finished with six and Hynes added five.
Kiya Newson-Cole tallied 15 points and six rebounds for Lincoln-Way Central (4-5, 0-4), while Brooke Katzmann came up with seven steals.
Hynes, meanwhile, came to Lockport via Mullingar, a town of close to 23,000 in Ireland known more for former One Direction singer Niall Horan than basketball.
Despite her lack of experience on the court, Jacobs looked over his first group of players in camp and liked what he saw from Hynes.
“I saw so much potential,” Jacobs said of Hynes. “And I saw she was a hard worker. She’s one of those players who will take feedback, and she’s the type of player that will rise to the occasion.
“That mentality has taken her to where she is right now. It’s amazing to see her play, and there are good things happening.”
Good things are happening with the Porters this season after back-to-back losing records and going two years without winning a game in conference.
“It’s a great start, and everyone is really excited,” Hynes said. “Our team is similar to last year, so we have a lot of experience back. Our team chemistry is building off last year and that helped us.”
Peetz, who missed last season because of a hip injury suffered in softball, also is enjoying the ride of this winning streak.
“It’s really quite the start,” Peetz said. “I don’t think we expected to do this well, but we knew we were going to be a lot better than last year. We work hard and we all get along, too.”
Jacobs likes the winning, but doesn’t want to get too carried away.
“I keep on forgetting what sport I’m coaching right now,” joked Jacobs, who’s also the coach of the Porters’ successful girls lacrosse team. “This is a lacrosse streak for me. This is the first time I’ve had a record like this in basketball.
“But there is a target on our back. I have to remind the girls to stay focused and not get caught up in our record or rankings. We have to keep our head down and keep going forward.”
Hynes, who wants to take basketball career to the next level, has offers from Illinois Wesleyan, St. Xavier and DePauw but hasn’t made any decisions yet.
Peetz admires how far Hynes has come along in a short amount of time.
“Ever since I’ve known her, she’s been a hard worker,” Peetz said. “She’s done a great job.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
