Whether sports or science, Lonesome excels under pressure

Saturday night:

The Hopkins women have displayed a stunning comeback against Centennial Conference rival Dickinson. Hopkins trailed by as many as 11 points midway through the second half, but a Blue Jay three-pointer began the team's unstoppable momentum. Hopkins went on an 18-4 run, and with a one point lead with 2:53 left to play,

Hopkins scored six more points, three by sophomore starting point guard Britni Lonesome, to take a six-point lead. This margin dwindled, however, and a Dickinson shoots a layup with eleven seconds left tied the game at 60 apiece.

Hopkins would have the ball for the last shot. The cool, calm and collected Britni Lonesome was a perfect candidate for the ball. With time running out, Lonesome takes the inbounds pass and dribbles across half court with mere seconds left on the clock. She pauses, holding the results of the game in her hands.

If you got to know her, you would learn that Britni Lonesome was born and bred to be a student athlete at Hopkins.

Her father, Melvin Mathis, was a standout college basketball player at Drake University in Iowa, where he was a three-time All-Mid Valley Conference selection and now stands as the school's all time rebounding leader and second all-time scorer. His daughter credits him as a major influence.

"He basically taught me everything I know. He was a great player and I admire his game, so I listen to everything he tells me because he knows what he's talking about. During the summer, we would go to different courts and work out, and play one-on-one. I beat him, of course."

Lonesome is also a local standout from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. At Poly, she served as captain of the basketball team in her junior and senior years in addition to playing softball.

Academically, Lonesome boasts something in high school that many current Hopkins students cannot. In high school she was set up with researchers at a Hopkins engineering lab who were developing a more effective drug delivery system to tuberculosis patients in underdeveloped countries. Lonesome excelled in this high pressure research assignment and (her teammates called her "the enginerd") received national attention (Google "Britni Lonesome+JHU," and you'll see what I mean) and several chemistry awards, including a first-place award from the Maryland Society of Clinical and Lab Scientists at the Baltimore Science Fair and a gold medal in chemistry at the NAACP's ACT-SO (Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) state competition. During the ACT-SO national finals in July, she collected the bronze medal in chemistry.

All things considered, this made the choice to attend Hopkins a no-brainer for Lonesome, who manages to balance working in the same laboratory she did in high school while still being an integral part of the women's basketball team at Hopkins and a "Baltimore Scholar" as well.

"The [Baltimore Scholars] program began my junior year, so from that point JHU sparked my interest. The research, basketball and [Hopkins's] proximity made it an obvious choice." As far as the work is concerned, Lonesome claims, "Juggling all of that is fun." She laughs, adding, "but it keeps me going. I am still researching in the lab and I will begin a new project this summer in the same lab so I'm pretty excited about that."

This season, Britni is seeing substantially more playing time than last season but is adjusting well to the increased playing time.

"I worked really hard in the off season, the pre-season and practice, so I knew with a larger role this year, I would have to step up, take advantage of the opportunity and help my team in any way possible."

Head basketball coach Nancy Funk feels that Lonesome has made excellent strides recently.

"One of the things I've seen from her in the last three weeks is in terms of development and decision making. Last week especially, she really turned the corner. She's really making better decisions, especially because the ball is in her hands and we rely on her a lot."

Funk continued, "She's brilliant. She's just a really bright young lady, just a real team spirit type of a person and just gives our team a lift in practice every day. Spirited is the word I would use to describe her."

"She's very supportive of her teammates, she does a lot of little things well, she is so quick that you find her in many different places on the court. I would venture to say that there are very few opponents in our conference who can stay with her in terms of her first step to the basket," her coach continued.

Lonesome has started eight of her team's 16 games and is averaging just over 21 minutes and just under seven points per game. She has four double-digit scoring efforts this season, including a career-high 18 points against Franklin and Marshall, and 14 in a three-point victory at home versus McDaniel.

Lonesome is a great teammate on the court, and off it she is a great person as well. One of her teammate, fellow sophomore Katie Biggart, describes Lonesome as "genuine."

"She is so down-to-Earth and can start up a conversation with honestly anyone. She is always chatting it up with the bus drivers during away games, even girls on the other team! Everyone just seems to gravitate towards her."

Lonesome's down-to-earth personality was evident during a recent team trip to New York City to take on NYU.

"We had a tough loss versus NYU that night. So me, being the fun person that I am, did not want that to ruin our trip," Lonesome said. "So I got like seven of us together, a couple of them had never been to New York City, and said 'road trip!' I wanted them to have a good night because they were down about the game, so we went to Rockefeller Plaza to see the tree, Times Square and ended at Junior's (famous for cheesecake). It was great!"

Back at the game:

Lonesome is looking for the final shot and pulls her defender into the corner, where she's able to protect the ball and draw a two shot foul ... with a mere second left on the clock and game tied.

"When the ref blew the whistle, I was like, 'Oh my God, this is our chance!' I was a little overwhelmed because that never happened to me before, as far as being in a position to hit the deciding free throws.I leaned over and started smiling which came from nervousness and shock, but then I said a little prayer and was calm after that."

And just as she's been able to do over the course of her high school and college careers on and off the court, the pressure brought out the best in Lonesome.

The first free throw hit nothing but net. 61-60 Hopkins.

That was all the scoring Hopkins would need, and despite missing the second free throw the game was over.

"She had great composure being in that crucial pressure situation," Coach Funk said. "She didn't lose the ball, and didn't lose her composure, and didn't get frustrated with her opponent. She just got up there and did what we knew she could do."