Chyress Lockhart was reminded at the start of the University of Charleston's women's basketball season that sometimes when you pray, you don't really realize what you're praying for.
At the beginning of this season, Lockhart prayed for the Golden Eagles to go through whatever they must in order to be a championship team. She didn't know those trials would include season-ending injuries to three of UC's top players and the aggravation of her own surgically repaired anterior cruciate ligament.
"At the end, if we're a championship team, I'm going to have to apologize to my teammates," she said with a smile. "I didn't know this is what we'd have to go through."
Yet, through the tough spots in her UC career, Lockhart's faith has kept her centered, focused and has helped her manage her frustrations. The Golden Eagles, who end their regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Civic Center versus West Virginia State, still have a chance at rallying in the Mountain East Conference tournament. And Lockhart's hopes still have life.
Lockhart's journey in basketball didn't begin until middle school, when she took up the sport in eighth grade, as her first love of softball lost its luster. Her journey in her faith, though, began much earlier. Her father, Kennedy, is a pastor in the family's hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. At 17, he gave her the choice of attending church and, for a little while, she stopped going, spending her weekends at parties.
"It was Sunday morning and I was like, 'Everyone's at church. All my friends are at church,' " she said. "I just stuck with [going to church]. There are a lot of things out there, but there's only one thing out there that makes you feel whole."
Despite a relatively late start in basketball, Lockhart excelled, being named the Lake Erie League's Most Valuable Player while at Shaker Heights High School. It earned her a scholarship to Morgan State, where she spent two seasons. Lockhart wasn't planning to transfer. The advice of a youth coach was to take a visit or two to show Morgan State coaches she was serious.
Her one visit was to Charleston.
In her first season in 2013-14, the Golden Eagles went 21-9, reached the MEC tournament finals and lost by just two points to Edinboro in the first round of the NCAA regional tournament. Many around the UC program had big plans for the 2014-15 campaign, but those took a detour when Lockhart tore her ACL and missed the entire season.
Despite the setback, her faith didn't waver.
"When I tore my ACL, I was like, I don't understand," she said. "But everything was going to work out together. It was going to get me better. In the summer, I just kept working out hard. God has a plan."
The Golden Eagles went 22-7 in her absence, losing in the MEC quarterfinals, but had several players, plus Lockhart, returning for this season. The anticipation built again. UC was picked second by MEC coaches in the preseason poll.
But then the team lost Monet Saunders, Chelsea Chambers and Ashley Milligan to season-ending injuries. Marissa Koob sat five games with a sprained ankle. Lockhart sat out four games herself, suffering from a partial tear of her repaired ACL. Yet she remained undaunted.
She returned for UC's first game versus WVSU and scored 23 points in a 77-74 win, and she's been in the lineup ever since. Her 19 points per game ranks third in the MEC and the Golden Eagles enter Saturday's game on a three-game winning streak.
UC coach Adam Collins said the 5-foot-6 guard's combination of strength and speed is uncommon for this level, but what really sets her apart is her mental fortitude.
"She's as good as any athlete I've ever had, male or female, in terms of blocking out pain or whatever," he said. "She's as good as anyone in blocking that out for the moment and being able to play through what's going on."
That doesn't include blocking out her teammates, though. In the past, she would draw into herself during tough moments to try and fix them herself. She has learned that is not the best way.
"When things go bad, you have to bring everyone together and let them know it's going to be all right," she said.
As difficult as this season has been for everyone on UC's team, Collins said Lockhart's perspective has been a great example to follow.
"With what she's been through, it's really helped me because she's handled those things in a way that most young people her age probably wouldn't handle it," he said. "How she's handled it has helped me handle it."
Lockhart's faith has allowed her to view the season from that perspective. The MEC tournament starts next week, and her prayer at the season's start still has some time to take hold.
"I've never been on a team where there's been just so much thrown at us," she said. "What I tell myself is, when you look in the Bible, did you ever see a miracle coming? I'm thinking to myself, I have a team where you don't know why things are happening, there has to be greatness at the end."