Emma O’Brien ‘26 takes a deep breath, stares at the basket, and releases the same shot she had made so many times before. This time, though, that simple shot made history. It was O’Brien’s 1,000th career point, a difficult and impressive milestone reached in only three years. 

“Emma’s combination of size, skill, and basketball IQ make her special, but her mindset is what sets her apart,” Varsity head coach Megan Hutchens said. “She’s competitive, resilient, and unselfish, the kind of player every coach wants to build a team around.”

Not only has O’Brien scored 1,000 career points, reaching the milestone against York last year, she has also earned All-Conference, All-Area, and All-State honors during her time on varsity, where she began her freshman year. During her junior year at LT, she was awarded Offensive Player of the Year and sophomore year, she was named Most Improved. 

“[O’Brien] sets the tone every day with her focus and competitiveness and pushes everyone around her to be better,” Hutchens said. “She leads by example with her work ethic and is always the first to encourage or lift up a teammate. Her presence raises the intensity in both practice and games.”

Not only is O’Brien a standout on the basketball team, but she has also played volleyball at LT all four years. Outside of school, O’Brien plays for Lady Lightning Club Basketball but stopped club volleyball in eighth grade. For basketball, O’Brien is a guard, and she plays as an outside hitter for volleyball. 

“My favorite part of coaching Emma is her passion for the game and her constant drive to improve,” Hutchens said. “She loves the process, whether it’s extra shooting after practice with her dad or getting training outside of practices, and that passion is contagious for the entire team.”

This year, O’Brien was named captain of both the basketball and volleyball teams, after four years of balancing both sports at LT. 

“I feel like I’m quieter, so being a leader on the team [can be a challenge],” O’Brien said. “I definitely need to speak out more, even if it’s an uncomfortable situation.”

It can be challenging to balance both sports along with a rigorous school curriculum, O’Brien said. Utilizing her athletic study hall helps manage her packed schedule. 

“The people make it so much fun and everyone’s so supportive of each other,” O’Brien said.

Gwen Smith ‘26 first played basketball with O’Brien in fifth grade, and currently plays club for Full Package, without O’Brien. Now, the two work together for their high school team.  

“[O’Brien’s] very collected and calm,” Smith said. “On the basketball court, she doesn’t express that much emotion, which [shows] she’s not fazed at all. I feel like she shows a lot of composure through her sports and academics too.”

Smith is a shooting guard, so she often plays with O’Brien on the court, she said. Throughout last season, she and O’Brien worked together on varsity to help the team to win a Regional championship. 

“All of last season, specifically when we first beat Benet last year, it was really fun to play with [O’Brien] and she had a really good game,” Smith said. “She had a lot of points, and it was our first [game] of the season, which kind of set us up for how successful [we were] going to be later in the season. That was really exciting.”

After LT, O’Brien has committed to continue her basketball career playing Division I at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. 

“The campus is really pretty and a lot [of] what I wanted, [with] the high education, and [it was] just a place I could see myself in,” O’Brien said.