GARDINER — A little red light came on, and Lauren Chadwick froze.

“I saw this look of panic,” Gardiner basketball coach Mike Gray recalled.

Chadwick wasn’t in the grips of stage fright. The light came on during a preseason game to indicate a low battery for her cochlear implant, which she’s been using to hear since she was 2 years old.

Gray reminded his standout sophomore what the Tigers were doing, and that they always had hand signals and her teammates to fall back on if she lost her hearing.

“I brought her over, calmed her down and said ‘Do you want to play?’ She said ‘Yes,'” Gray recalled. “You put a lot of players in that spot and they’re not going to be mentally strong enough to go through that and contribute. After the initial shock, everything was great.”

Many of Gardiner’s opponents may be shocked to learn that Chadwick was born profoundly deaf. A talented, versatile performer, Chadwick is one of the top players in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, and plays with a kind of poise and savvy few players older than her possess.

“Lauren’s basketball IQ is high enough that even if she doesn’t catch something and she’s on the opposite end of the court, she knows what to do,” Gray said. “Now that we’re two years in, half the time she knows what I want to do without it being said, which is good.”

“As her confidence on the court has gone up, I think (being deaf) has become even less of a factor,” he added. “Some of the coaches in our league probably don’t even know it.”

Not that the Tigers make it a big secret. They don’t have the luxury, particularly in a loud gym. They use a lot of hand signals to make sure everyone is on the same page. Gray and teammates make sure Chadwick can see their lips when they are talking to her. Players know that Gray may need them to help him get Chadwick’s attention if she’s at the other end of the court.

Chadwick, whom her mother, Suzanne, described as a gym rat growing up, keeps all lines of communication open with her coaches and teammates.

“Sometimes I can’t hear my coach when he’s yelling at the top of his lungs, but that’s OK,” Chadwick said. “Sometimes it can be hard, but sometimes it can be good. For example, coach Gray, every time I go down the court, I always look for him to tell me or give me a hand signal what play we’re doing. Growing up, I’ve always given people eye contact when I talk to them.”

“I do hear the whistle. I hear the buzzer,” she added. “Sometimes on defense when we’re communicating and there’s a screen coming, sometimes I can’t hear (a teammate warning her about the screen). Other than that, I hear pretty much everything most of the time. Sometimes, it is hard, but I can get through it.”

One reason she can get through it, Chadwick said, is because “my teammates and coach don’t make me feel like I’m deaf. That’s what I need.”

“It never comes up,” Gray said. “Seeing the girls interact, it doesn’t come up.”

That may be one reason why Chadwick has always loved playing sports, which she started playing as young as three years old.

Her older sister, Nicole, graduated from Gardiner last year after playing varsity basketball, softball and field hockey. Her cousin, Forrest, was a three-sport star at Gardiner and went on to lead the University of Southern Maine to back-to-back Division III College World Series appearances.

While she also plays soccer and softball, basketball is Lauren’s favorite, and best, sport. She’s most comfortable on a basketball court, in part because it’s where she can stand out because of her remarkable skills, not her disability.

“She’s never wanted to be singled out. She’s never wanted it to be a big deal,” Suzanne Chadwick said.

After watching Lauren dominate in middle school, Gray anticipated she would have a role on the varsity team as a freshman. Lauren, playing alongside her older sister, opened eyes quickly, to the point where they voted her a KVAC Class B second team all-star.

Coming back for her sophomore season, Lauren knew she wouldn’t have Nicole around to help her through the growing pains.

“She helped me a lot,” Chadwick said. “Now, this year, I was going through a funk where I didn’t have her. But on the other side, I have great teammates.”

Nicole Chadwick was part of a large senior nucleus that led Gardiner to the Eastern B quarterfinals last year and allowed Lauren to develop her game in more of a supporting role. With all of them gone, Lauren, who can play the point, wing or post, has had to take on more responsibilities, which means opponents are subjecting Lauren to a lot more scrutiny.

“She’s had to adjust more because, as a freshman, teams weren’t focusing their defense on her,” Gray said. “This year, we’ve seen some teams try to take away her and challenge someone else to beat them. Some nights we’ve been able to and some nights we haven’t.”

The Tigers are 7-10, but have played better than their record. They’ve beaten Medomak Valley and played KVAC powers such as unbeaten Spruce Mountain, Camden Hills, Oceanside and Lincoln Academy tough.

Currently ranked in the middle of the Eastern B Heal point standings, Gardiner could pull off a few surprises in the tournament if it finds a way to play more consistent basketball.

“We just need to stay positive,” Chadwick said. “We don’t give up in games. Last game we had (against unbeaten Spruce Mountain) we were down by 19 and we came back within two points. We just don’t give up, and that’s one of the good things for us as a team.”

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33