It's Called A Comeback

Currently listening to: “Man In A Mirror” – Michael Jackson

The game started at approximately 3:40p.m., after our rival arrived with their entire school – no joke. The gym was filled with cheers and chanting. But it was all blocked out once the referee blew the whistle. All I could hear were my team mates’ and the coaches by the sidelines.

The first two baskets went in the hoops, but it was not ours. It was theirs. They made two shots right under the basket – don’t ask how, ‘cause I don’t know. For a while, it didn’t look good to me, but I tried to put my worries aside. Running quickly up and down the court, playing both aggressive defense and offense, we were then able to make our first basket. It was nothing but net. #29 assisted that shot. It was similar with our second basket. Our third came from the free throw line – made the first one but missed the second. I wasn’t too happy about that, ‘cause now looking back at the game, that one shot could’ve made a difference. You’ll see why. Before I could let myself down with that missed free throw, the whistle rang and alerted us that it was half time. The score was 10 – 5, they were leading.

After ten minute of break, we concluded that we were going to run a tighter zone defense. That was exactly what we did when we got back on the court during the second half. We saw that it was harder for them to drive in to make an easy lay-up or a shot. The referee had called out three-seconds on them at least four times. That’s how tight we played our defense. Like what my coach always say, “Focus on your defense and get them frustrated before you start playing your offense.” And that was what we did in the second half.

Since we’ve taken care of our defense, we switched our focus on offense – we needed some more baskets, after all. And believe it or not, we scored 11 points in less than five minutes. This is how it happened:
First, we got fouled while we attempted to make a shot. We were called to the free throw line with two shots. Made one, but missed the second. But at least we made one out of two. That brought our score from 6 to 7. We were still behind by nine points though.
The next shot was made by #31, my sister. They were passing the ball around, and all of the sudden she was open for a shot. I was behind her and witnessed that shot. Once she let the balls go off from her fingers, I already had my hands up ready to cheer for her. That’s how proud I was of her! So that basket brought us up to 16 – 9. We were still behind by seven points.
The next three baskets came from fast breaks that gave us easy lay-ups. It was all #29, when she stole the ball from her opponent. Once she had the ball, she quickly brought it down the court. Our opponents instantly ran up against her to stop her from getting a fast break.
What they didn’t see were the four people behind them that were open for an easy lay-up. But #29 did. She quickly passed the ball down to a player, who then made an easy lay-up. The second easy lay-up was similar but it was also assisted by #21. The third shot was assisted by #29. These three baskets happened so fast that, I actually remember getting really tired.

But I didn’t let myself stop there. We had only three minutes left or so, and the score now was 16 – 15. They were still leading, but only by one point. I told myself I was going to keep working hard, ‘cause I was not going to stop here when we were so close to winning it. We all ran back quickly for defense, and had our hands up high. And when we went back for offense, we worked as a team as we ran our play – giving good passes and always playing safety for each other. When we did that, #29 had the chance to go up for a shot but the other team fouled her, once again. She went up to the free throw line, with two shots. She missed her first shot (which she is embarrassed about ‘cause it was an air ball), but I’m very proud of her still. She was the one that made her second free throw that tied up the game. 16 – 16. What a comeback!

I remember running back for defense, and I found myself smiling. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. We went from 5 to 16 in just twenty minutes! I was overjoyed. The game didn’t stop there though. The second the game ended, our point guard, #21 was fouled – that meant she was going to the free throw line with two shots. Everyone on the court was ordered to return to their team, while #21 took her free throws. We were all watching anxiously. If she made at least one, then it was a win. But if that didn’t happen, we would then go for overtime. And that was what ended up happening – overtime. I was okay with that, because we at least had a comeback and tied up with them.

Overtime. Coach A never prepared us for over time. I didn’t even think we would ever go overtime – I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing. But we went in for (hopefully) the final round. I have to say, I was nervous. Five minutes was not enough. It can all go by in just sixty seconds – that’s how it feels sometimes. We played our hardest. We ran back for defense, and supported each other in the court. We did everything a good team does on the court, but after five minutes we found ourselves short of one basket, only. It felt like the finals we played back when I was in seventh grade – we were only short of one basket.

I walked back to my team mates, and we decided to hold our heads up high. Before we played that game, we told each other that we were going to have comeback. And that was what we did. We didn’t win, but at least we reached our goal. I learned that sometimes you can’t have everything you want at once, you got to work for it. And that is what we will do, as a team.

Of course it would have be nice to win our first game, but to tell you the truth…I’m happier with the comeback. Not every team has a comeback like the one we had yesterday. Good job, ladies! You know who you are.

One more note: I got to thank *ElectricPony for showing up to the game and supporting us. She was there from the start till the end, along with JR. She must just be good luck, after all.