Rachyl Robinson’s brother got her started. Her father kept her going. And now for SSC? ‘Everything is coming around.’

Right about the time that Rachyl Robinson was completing her sophomore season as a guard for Homewood-Flossmoor, the pandemic hit. And it hit her hard.

Like for many students, the lockdown was a challenge mentally.

“I was really drained and depressed,” she said. “I didn’t want to play basketball anymore.”

That didn’t matter to her father Ron, who three years ago was overseeing his daughter’s progress. He wasn’t about to let the pandemic take away her potential.

“My dad kept me going in the driveway,” Rachyl said. “We had the ladder pulled out. We had cones — the whole setup. He had me do drills. He kept pushing me through the quarantine.

“If he wouldn’t have pushed me, I don’t even know what I would be doing. I didn’t have the motivation.”

After enjoying some postseason heroics as a senior at H-F, Robinson committed in May to national powerhouse Morton College, but then later changed her mind.

She said she wanted to be closer to home.

The 5-foot freshman point guard went to South Suburban College instead. She’s averaging 17.5 points with 79 assists, 62 steals and 46 3-pointers for the Bulldogs (15-11).

On Nov. 15, Robinson scored a career-high 34 points in an 82-65 win over McHenry. On Feb. 4, she had 28 points in an 80-76 win over Moraine Valley.

“I’m still adjusting, but I’m getting there,” Robinson said of her college experience. “It’s not too crazy. The shot clock is the only big difference. I had to adjust to that.

“But everything else just comes naturally. I am working on attacking stronger and working on my floaters.”

Second-year SSC coach Roslyn Turner said Robinson has a chance to be a complete player before she heads off to a four-year school.

“Rachyl will be an all-around player once she learns to be that lockdown defender,” Turner said. “I know she can do a lot better.

“Offensively, I can’t argue with anything that she does. She can pass. She can score at the basket at will. She can get her teammates the ball.”

Turner, who said she attended Robinson’s high school games, was pleasantly surprised with the player who showed up at SSC.

“I thought she was laid back — I thought she was just a shooter in high school,” Turner said. “But now that she’s a point guard, everything is coming around well.”

Another key to Robinson’s success is her older brother, Ryan.

Ryan, a sophomore, is averaging 15.6 points and 4.5 rebounds at Truman in Chicago. The two frequently talk and joke around about each other’s statistics.

Ryan has been big in her life for two reasons. First, Rachyl said when she was in fourth grade, he introduced her to the sport in an unusual manner.

“We used to shoot socks into the hamper,” she said. “We had a hamper in the corner in a room and had our backcourt, and we would shoot up a rolled up pair of socks into it.”

Second, he helped her learn the game the hard way in the driveway.

When Ryan and his friends would play, she often got shoved around. There were a few times that she left the game in tears.

“They played me hard and I got frustrated,” Rachyl said. “They would never pass me the ball because I was a girl.”

But it was good training.

“He’s helped me play harder,” she said of her brother. “When I played against boys, he pushed me. When we played in the driveway, they used to bully me, but they can’t do that anymore.

“I’ve got talent now.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.