Shy Hawkins returns to Floyd hoping to win a championship with her childhood friends

Shy Hawkins has returned to where her path toward becoming a Division I signee began.

Hawkins, a 6-2 wing committed to play basketball at Syracuse, returned to Floyd on Friday and played her first game with the Colonials since her freshman year on Saturday. She spent the last two-and-a-half years at Long Island Lutheran, one of the premier girls basketball schools in the nation.

Hawkins said LuHi understood her decision and eased the return to Floyd. Hawkins said she’s still on good terms with her teammates and coaches at LuHi and credited the school for assisting her basketball growth.

But for her final high school run, she wanted to end it with the players she grew up with.

“I had my school in Syracuse and I wanted to help (Floyd) win a championship,” Hawkins said. “I know they got really close last year, so I was like, ‘Why not come home and try to help them win?’ So that’s what I decided to do.”

Hawkins was a Newsday All-Long Island second-team selection last season while averaging 7.4 points and 5.3 rebounds against some of the best competition in the country. She had 21 points and 13 rebounds in a 45-38 win over Whitman, the defending Suffolk Class AA champions, on Saturday.

Due to practicing and playing at LuHi all season, Hawkins was able to play right away at Floyd.

“This is my hometown, so it just feels great playing here and doing everything I love to do in front of my family and friends,” Hawkins said. “I know the skills I have and if I bring it here, we’ll win no matter what.”

The coaches are thrilled to have Hawkins back as well.

“She is a unicorn,” coach Rich Sinclair said. “She’s the kind of kid coaches dream of having the opportunity to coach.”

Kayla Gilmore, who set the Floyd program scoring record on Saturday with 1,193 varsity points, said she’s been hoping to get Hawkins to return for Floyd for a while. The two of them, along with other current Floyd players, won a CYO championship in the eighth grade, Gilmore said.

“It’s been in the works for a while, so for it to finally be able to come true and share the court with her, it’s amazing,” Gilmore said. “Her game is very fun to watch, it was very fun to play today, and we’re looking for that every game.”

Sinclair saw a different level of competition at practice on Friday with Hawkins’ return.

“We have a lot of girls that can really play the game and having Shy at practice with us, you could see a level of intensity,” Sinclair said. “You could see all the girls were getting better by playing against her because they all want to try and stop her or they want to try and score against her.”

Floyd lost in the Suffolk Class AA semifinals after winning its first league title since 1982 last year. Hawkins hopes to be the missing piece in the Colonials taking home their first county title in program history.

“Just knowing I’m coming back to help them and then if we win it, that would mean so much to me,” Hawkins said. “Knowing that I helped them and just for the whole town, it would be really big for them and me, too.”

“I’m very happy that she made the decision to come home and finish out her career where it all started,” Sinclair said. “She is a unique talent and I’m very, very happy she’s back here. We have the opportunity to work with her and she can help us reach some of the goals that we’ve never reached before.”