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Gloucester's Hickey reflects on eventful basketball season

Tuesday, April, 01 By Matt Langone
Staff writer

As we still sit in limbo waiting for the high school spring sports season to begin, now is as good a time as any to clean out the old inbox and take a  look at how a few of our local athletes are performing at their respective colleges.

Leading the way is Gloucester native and Wheaton College junior Krystin Hickey, who enjoyed a spectacular season for the women's basketball team.

The 5-foot-9, versatile forward, who played her high school hoops at New Hampton School in Manchester, N.H., was named to the D3hoops.com All-Northeast Region second team in mid-March. That honor recognized a season in which Hickey led the Lyons in scoring (13.6 ppg), field goal percentage (.517) and 3-point percentage (.467).

She also helped Wheaton get back to the Division 3 NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995. The Lyons finished the campaign at 22-8 after falling to Tufts University, 71-67, in the first round of the tournament.

"Any personal awards I get, I have to credit my teammates and coaches," said Hickey, who splits her time between Gloucester and Manchester, N.H. during the summer. "I was really impressed to get an honor like that. I really couldn't have done it without my teammates. We have worked so hard since freshman year."

For Hickey, perhaps an even bigger thrill than being one of just 16 players from the region to receive the honor from D3hoops.com, was playing in her first NCAA tourney.

"It was so much fun, I felt like a little kid," said Hickey, whose team traveled to Newburgh, N.Y. for the tourney. "The atmosphere was incredible. We had a lot of fun with it."

Hickey's scoring numbers have actually decreased in each season of her college career. She averaged 14.2 ppg as a freshman, then 14.0 as a sophomore. However, she will be the first to tell you that she is indeed a much better player now than she was two years ago.

"I play a lot smarter now with much more confidence," said Hickey. "I've learned to take smarter shots and we're playing like a team more than we ever have since I've been at Wheaton."

It may now be the offseason for Hickey and the Lyons, but the team is already hard at work preparing to build on this year's success next winter.

"We already started our postseason workouts," said Hickey. "We're only graduating one senior (Becky Aitchison). She was a quad-captain so it will be a tough loss. But we still should have a great season next winter."