Right now is the moment of truth. As we get ready to play our next game we talk strategy. This isn’t any ordinary game, it’s the championship! We aren’t versing any ordinary team, we are facing a team that beat us three times in the regular season and is one year older. It’s ON! I feel anticipation as the five of us jog onto the court, a surge of adrenaline rushing through my system. Here it is South Jeffco verses Dakota Ridge.
We circle around the people that are jumping for the ball; the ref blows the whistle and throws the ball up. Both centers lift off from the ground and stretch every part of their arm to the tip of their fingers. Our center, Amara won the jump and tipped it back. Here we go, I though to myself and the game began. We dribbled down the court; this was going to be a fun game. At first the game was close; we kept going back and forth with the score. The first period ended as quickly as it started, with an extremely low scoring ten to eight, with us in the lead. The game was still undecided. We huddled before the next eight minutes.
“ONE, TWO, THREE, SWISH!” The whole team chanted in unison; five of us walked back out again thinking quickly of what we could do to win the game. We line up in our positions and watched the jump. This time their center got the ball. I got into my defense mode, I’m extremely aggressive. I got down low and followed the ball with my eyes. Finally, an imperfect pass and one of our guards intercepts the ball. I sprint down the opposite end of the court to get the outlet. She passes to me I reach up, seize the ball, and dribble down the court for the easy lay up. We play pressure of course, so as their point guard struggles to find an open person. She passes to a girl three feet away from me, I run up to grab the open ball and go for the easy shot. ANOTHER TWO POINTS! Our side of the benches goes crazy fourteen to eight; we are still in the lead! We’re ecstatic, but we know its still not over. This gave us more energy for the third period. I go back out for half of the third period, but the tedious work of running up and down the court is catching up to me. My coaches call me in. I jog off the court and take a seat next to my teammates; we take each others hands and pray! That’s right, PRAY! We wanted to win this game bad. We sit there, cheering on our team, watching the seconds tick by, as third period becomes part of our past. The game is closer than ever, eighteen to seventeen my team! This is still anyone’s game.
The nerves rush up and down through our body, some people tapping their feet, others gnawing on their lip. Could this game be going by any slower? We need to win this game! Our parents chanting us on with all the intensity they have. This game might as well have caused ten heart attacks by now! Finally one minute left! Twenty-three to twenty, we’re up, but we’re hanging on by a thread. As you watch the speedy clock tick down all I can think is play your hearts out for these last seconds. Thirty seconds left! All I see is the ball going back and forth between each team. Ten seconds. Their team has the ball. Five seconds. They shoot form far out. Three seconds. The ball flies through the air. Two seconds. The ball drops; not even close the hoop. I sit there and watch the ball drop to the ground and each time it meats the ground I can hear the bounce.
I look up and see disappoint on the people wearing the blue jerseys. The blaring noise of the buzzer makes me realize that WE WON THE GAME! Our whole team races out to celebrate our humongous win that we worked so hard to get. We jump up and down as we’re in our huddle; I look over at the other team, with disappointment reading all over their body, some with tears trickling down their red faces as they go to meet their parents. We look so enraptured, with grins from one ear to the other; our heads are held high as we go to high five the other team, to tell them “good game.” We race back to our side of the court and grab all of our belongings. Our parents look extremely proud as they walk beside their kid, telling us how good we looked and that we disserved it. As I’m walking with my parents I think how hard this game was and how glad I am that we won. Nothing could ruin this moment.