Basketball Championship

Author’s Note:  This was a game that I will never forget, and I tried to add some transitions to meet my goal.

Everyone walked on the court very stressed out, both teams knew it was going to be a complicated game. My coach kept saying "Relax girls just play this game like any other." I keep thinking of that when we were warming up, but I still had butterflies in my stomach. We started the game and all I could hear is my coach yelling, which got everyone really nervous but we have played Franklin before so we knew who their best players were. This game meant a lot to me, it proved to me that my coach believes in me.

After playing awhile there were just 5 minutes in the half and we were losing by 3 points, we had a lot of time to catch up. It was our ball and we were running a play for one of my teammates Becca, it was for her because my coach knew she could shoot three pointers. She made her cut which got her open, I passed her the ball and she made it. I heard all the parents clapping, and my coach howled "Great shot Becca! Now let's go into our press." From there the game keep going back and forth we would score then they would score.

Suddenly I heard a voice say "come on ladies let's finish our tournament with a great victory and a perfect record. " My coach said at half time while pushing some people on the court. They were winning by a couple points, we could get those back pretty easily. Although after a few minutes into the second half we were all kind of tired we had 3 games before this one. "Go into twelve defense" Our coach realized we were kind of tired that is why he told us to go into zone defense. We weren't that good at zone defense because we didn't play it that much. Anyways now there was 5 minutes left and we were winning by 7 points then the other teams coach called a timeout. "I think you girls are doing a great job just make sure you don't let them back in the game. Also get more water if you were just in." My coach said while taking a glance at the other team.

As soon as the ref blew his whistle my teammates and I walked on the court like we thought we had this game in the bag; the other team walked on the court playing with their clammy hands. It was the other teams ball, and it seemed like they were doing a play so we tried our best not to let them score, which turned out awful they got a three pointer. Next thing we knew it was a tie game with only one minute left, and it was their ball. We seemed to already know the play that they were running so we stopped them from shooting the three pointer, until number 32 came from nowhere and got an open three which she swooshed it. Now it was our ball left with only 10 seconds left on the clock. “Timeout!” my coach screamed while the veins were popping out of his head and neck. Right away he grabbed his whiteboard and throw it hard against the ground. He picked up the old damaged whiteboard and started to draw out a play for us to make a three pointer, which I was the one that was going to shoot it.

Behind the thick black out of bonds line Becca received the ball from the old grumpy ref and right away she threw it right to my teammate Kenzie. The others players were setting me up, I did my big loop around the other side of the three point arc and I was open. Kenzie passed to me with a lot of force, then I noticed that there were two defenders coming towards me. The only decision I had was to dribble the basketball down more towards the corner but still outside the three point line. I picked up my dribble and had no choice but to shoot there was only 3 seconds left. I struggled to get my hands underneath the ball so I put the ball in my right arm and did a right hand hook shot. The clock buzz real loud. It was going towards the hoop it looked like it was going in! Then it plopped down. Everyone was disappointed I could even hear everyone saying “Why would she shoot it like that?” in a real snotty tone. All a sudden we heard the refs whistle blow and it was a foul that meant 3 free throws, I could tie the game.

Therefore I stepped up to the free throw line sweat dripping down my face, I felt really nervous. I could hear my heart beat rapidly, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. The ref passed me the ball, and I started to dribble it a couple times then  I shot it. The ball went right in the net so nicely no one could hear it hit the rim. I heard all my teammates cheering then the ref passed me the ball again, I did the same amount of dribbles as usually and I shot it, and it went in. I felt a little more relaxed, everyone was still cheering but I knew this was the last shot to see if we went into overtime. I dribbled it 6 times again, and shot my last shot when the whole gym was as quiet as a mouse. Instantly my whole team ran over to me hugging me and cheering as loud as they could. We all sat down on the bench with huge grins on our faces, but we still haven’t won yet we still had an extra minute of overtime.

In addition Becca jumped as high as she could, and we got the ball off the tip off. Kenzie caught the ball and went in for a lay-up beating everyone up the court, and no one could catch her so we scored. All we had to do is not let them score then we got 1^st place and a perfect record of 15-0. The other team was so in shock of what happened they couldn’t even score, they keep the ball around which was wasting time. Evenatually there was only 10 seconds left and they set up a play to make 32 shoot a three. “Shoot it!” yelled the other teams coach because there was only 3 seconds on the clock. The ball went up in the air but Haylie jumped in front of the shot and blocked it a little. The clocked buzzed real loud, we won! The other teams heads were all real low, and our team could not stop smiling.