The first and second varsity basketball games I have ever played in were playoff games.  Since the JV season was over, the varsity coach decided to move up the top four girls from JV so we could have a chance to gain some experience for the following year. 

The second game that I played in was against Somerset.  Our team didn’t believe we’d win, so of course, the plan was to try our best.  If we won, great, if we didn’t, that was okay because no one was expecting us to, so they wouldn’t be surprised.

In the first half of the game, the normal varsity players began playing very well, surprising everyone.  They scored the first points of the game, leading Somerset 4 to 0.  That’s when the Somerset girls started hitting threes.  Our varsity girls worked hard and did exactly what Gabe, our coach, had asked them to do.  They gave themselves the opportunity to win in the second half.  Gabe and Chad, the other coach, were very proud of these girls, and his pride showed during the halftime talk. 

In their halftime talks of games, Gabe and Chad liked to start off by asking players how they thought the game was going, and what they thought needed to be done differently.  Next, Gabe talked about what he thought was going well as well as what he thought needed to change.  No matter if the girls were winning or losing, Gabe liked to end his halftime talks by giving the players some words of encouragement to help the players to win the in the end of the game.

In the second half, our team came out strong; unfortunately, so did the Somerset girls.  About halfway through the second half, Dani, the main point guard, started to feel unwell.  Gabe walked down the bench, looked at me, and told me to go in as Dani’s substitute.  In a huge mix of emotions, I stood up and jogged to the score table to check in. 

Once the referees told me I could go in, I told Dani she was out, and went to get the ball from Madelyn, who was passing the ball in from out of bounds.  I realized that I would have to be the one to bring the ball up the court in Dani’s place.  As I dribbled down the floor, all I could think was “don’t let them know this is your first time playing a varsity game.”  When I arrived on our offensive half of the court, I quickly realized I could drive past the girl playing defense against me, so that’s exactly what I did.  Once I had gotten around the first girl, however, a second girl moved over to help.  This meant I had to pass the ball off to someone else, in the hopes that they could shoot a shot.  The girl I passed the ball to did get a shot, but ended up missing.  This meant running back down the floor on defense.  I thought ‘It’s a good thing we’re playing a zone defense.  Now I don’t have to remember who to guard.’

The next time we went down the floor on offense, I decided to try to drive around the girl at the top of the zone again, but I would go to the left that time.  Again, I went around her, but that time, I went around the girl who came as defensive help, and made it all the way to the basket.  Making it to the basket gave me a chance to score.  As the ball fell through the net, I was vaguely aware of the bench, and Gabe, cheering.  It felt good to feel like I was a contributing part of the team.

After going back to play defense, I brought the ball back up the court once again, and on this possession I decided to pass the ball to Madelyn, who drove in and made her shot, just like she and I had planned.  Our team then went back down the court to play defense, and Madelyn tipped a pass which caused a girl from Somerset to touch it and tip it out of bounds.  This gave Gabe a chance to substitute Kallie in for Madelyn.  As Madelyn was leaving the floor, all I can remember is her telling me to go try to score again.  Which is exactly what I did. 
Even though we lost that game, it was fun to actually play on varsity for the first time.  Even though so many people ended up crying in the end because it was the seniors’ last game, I think our team was still pretty happy with how they played, and I think the coaches were too.