S
hy Hawkins had a slow start in her first game back at William Floyd High School (New York) on Jan. 6, 2024. After playing at powerhouses Christ the King and Long Island Lutheran from her sophomore season until halfway through her senior year, Hawkins returned to the Colonials.
Facing Walt Whitman, the 2023 Suffolk County Class AA Champions, Hawkins had seven points at halftime, with the score tied. So, her father, Patrick Hawkins, pulled her aside. He asked her why she was holding back and told her it was time to show off.
In the second half, Hawkins finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds, making four three-pointers in the third quarter, and led William Floyd to a 45-38 win.
“I flipped the switch,” Hawkins said. “Every time (Patrick) is telling me (advice), I just turn into a whole different player.”
Hawkins’ return home to William Floyd united her with her father, past teammates and coaches before she began her NCAA career with Syracuse. She played at William Floyd from seventh to ninth grade before her stops at Christ the King and Long Island Lutheran propelled her to become a four-star wing prospect.
Despite success along the way, including leading Long Island Lutheran to a runner-up finish in the 2023 Geico National Basketball Championship, each school was an over-40-minute commute. To wrap up her high school career, she wanted a return home.
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Hawkins kept in touch with her former teammates while away. After committing to Syracuse in October 2023, she contacted William Floyd’s coaches and decided to transfer. She went back to William Floyd, in her hometown of Mastic Beach, following winter break.
“To end off where I started at was a great feeling,” Hawkins said. “I wanted to come back and help (William Floyd) win something.”
The year before Hawkins returned, William Floyd won its first league championship since 1982. Hawkins wanted to take the program to the next level by winning the county championship.
When Hawkins was considering returning, she spoke with former teammates Jacky Sutherland and Kayla Gilmore. In eighth grade, Hawkins played with the pair on a Catholic Youth Organization team and the three played together as freshmen at William Floyd.
Hawkins brought a jolt of competitiveness to each Colonials’ practice upon her return, pushing the team to their limits, Sutherland said. She also taught her teammates lessons from previous endeavors.
Hawkins gained experience playing in front of larger crowds at Long Island Lutheran, and with William Floyd’s 10-1 record to start the season, spectators followed. It was an unfamiliar sight for most of Hawkins’ teammates.
On the morning of game days, Hawkins talked with her teammates to prepare them as soon as she saw them in class. During games, she would give teammates high fives to keep up morale.
“She knew what to do in those situations, which was great to have that type of person on our team, because she would keep us calm, cool and collected,” Sutherland said.
Hawkins’ composure powered the Colonials to a 66-53 overtime win against Wal Whitman on Feb. 2. The victory marked William Floyd’s second of the season over the defending county champions.
Hawkins’ connection with her family grew too. While playing a national schedule with Long Island Lutheran, there were times her relatives watched on TV. The switch to William Floyd positioned her five minutes from home, so her father Patrick and her mother, Gwen Hawkins, could attend games easily.
Patrick dedicated himself to helping Hawkins in any way he could. Hawkins started playing basketball at age 12. To help propel her development, Patrick spoke to Hawkins from the stands of her high school and AAU games. At William Floyd, Hawkins benefited from his more frequent feedback.
“A lot of times she would look over to me for my critique on what she was doing or how can I help her a little bit,” Patrick said.
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Hawkins and Patrick trained after games, working on her three-level scoring. Beyond training with her father, the closer location maximized training time with her coaches, too.
At 6 a.m., long before classes started, she drove to the gym to meet with assistant coach Rob Hodgson or head coach Rich Sinclair. Hodgson, a former player at Rutgers, helped Hawkins prepare for Syracuse by working on shooting release speed and adjusting to the NCAA’s extended three-point arc.
During games, William Floyd often ran offensive sets through Hawkins. She dominated, averaging 23.4 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and 2.7 steals per game.
Gwen noticed that Hawkins grew more confident and carried herself with a different energy at William Floyd.
“It was like a spark ignited under her when she went back,” Gwen said.
“Being back home with a lot of the plays being ran through me, it made me be able to open my game more and show people more what I could actually do compared to what they really see,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins’ high-level play – combined with Sutherland and Gilmore, who each tallied over 1,000 high school points, respectively – led the Colonials to their second consecutive League I title.
The next step was winning the county championship. In the Suffolk AAA quarterfinals, Hawkins stepped up with a game-high 34 points to propel No. 2-seed William Floyd to a 74-41 win over No. 7-seed North Babylon.
Though, after winning each of the first 12 games with Hawkins, William Floyd fell 49-42 to No. 3-seed Walt Whitman in the Suffolk Class AAA semifinals to end the season. Still, Hawkins’ return helped William Floyd to a 20-2 finish and established the program among the top in Suffolk County.
The year prior, the Colonials finished 15-7, and Sutherland felt it needed one more player to take the next step. Hawkins proved to be the answer.
“She was the last piece of our puzzle that we needed for our team,” Sutherland said. “She came in at the perfect timing, especially for our senior year, to win it all.”
Photograph Courtesy of SU Athletics
Published on October 24, 2024 at 1:34 am
Contact Timmy at: tswilcox@syr.edu | @TimmyWilcox32
