The sun was bright, the weather was our usual summer day. It was about hundred degrees outside. We were on the bus, to our state championship basketball game. I sat next to my teammate, Terra.
She was texting the entire bus ride with her headphones in. I was the best player on the team, but she was a team captain with me. We were the two best seniors on the team. She was dedicated to basketball, she wanted to be a professional. Everybody wanted to be a professional, I wanted to be one with her. We promised each other we would do to Duke University and win a championship in college together.
I always was so fascinated by her hair. It was red ginger, nobody else had her hair color. Her skin wasn't as light as mine, but I've always figured she was mixed. Her skin color was just as unique as her hair. Her freckles were her best feature in my opinion. She had a lot of those little pretty ass freckles.
She took off her headphones. "You ready Rosey?"
"I've been waiting for this all four years." I replied. "Duh I'm ready, are you ready Ms. Galloway?"
I always thought she had the perfect last name for a basketball star. Galloway, it has winner all over it. I always joked about how much sports journalist would love saying her name, Terra Galloway.
"No rusty shit like last game." Rene, who sat in front of us said. "That shit is going to fuck us up, I'm not trying to go all four years without a championship."
"I don't think any of us are trying to go all four years with a championship." Terra replied. "Stay focused on winning it and we'll get it."
"Just letting y'all know, I'm going all out."
Kasey sat with Rene in front of us. We played on this team together since we were freshman at fourteen year old. Now, we're all seniors going on eighteen. We were yet to win a state championship. Last season, we lost in the semifinals. Year before that, we lost in the very first round.
Kasey was the tallest of us, she was damn near six foot tall. Terra and I were the shortest on the team, barely even over five foot. I was extremely fast to make up for it though. Terra was fast too, plus she was smart when the ball was in her hands. She rarely made stupid decisions and turned over the ball. Rene was famous for that, she always turns over the ball and foul the opposing girl with the ball.
One game, Rene lost possession of the ball because she can't dribble worth shit. A chick from the other team picked the ball up, Rene pushed her while she was shooting the ball. Coach always told us to never let them get an easy layup, make it hard on them. But Rene took it to extremes, she basically threw the little girl.
The little girl was pissed, of course. So were her teammates. So they argued with Rene, Kasey didn't argue though. She didn't talk a lot, she was just about that action. When the girls got in Rene face, she just started smacking hoes.
After Kasey smacked the first girl, it was all out warfare. Both the team benches cleared, everyone ran into the fight. Some bitches was getting jumped, while some bitches were fighting in ones.
All I know is, I wasn't punched not one time. That's exactly how I planned to have it too. I wish a bitch would had punched me, I probably would had went to jail. But I try to keep my crazy side from displaying in public. So instead of killing bitches, I just knocked a few of them out.
At the end of the fight, my team basically kicked all they ass. The refs had to end the game, they called it a loss for my team. I don't understand how though. We were winning the game before the fight. But it was probably because we beat all their asses, they couldn't continue the game. But shouldn't it be their loss, if they can't continue the game. I probably overthink the situation all the time, I really and honestly don't care though. Rene always said, we lost the game but we won the fight.
It was our last game against that team too. As seniors, we'll never play against them again. We played them every year, I guess they were our rivals. But it didn't seem like it until after our fight, then bitches was sending threats to your household. Then it was entire school rivalry. Then, shit just got real after our fight. That's what rivalry means, beef with they ass.
We were playing the championship game at the University of Missouri. I always loved that college, but the girl teams aren't too good. Especially in basketball, so I was obstinately set on going to Duke instead. Even though I wanted to stay close to her and Missouri was my state, Duke's team is much better.
When we arrived at University of Missouri, we headed into the locker rooms. They were buses from students coming to the game from our schools. But there wasn't enough, more were sure to come. The locker rooms were big, biggest I've ever been in. I put my bag into a locker, Terra put hers in the locker beside me.
"Think we need to give an inspirational speech?" Terra asked me, I shrugged.
"I'll do it, if you want me to." I replied.
"Go ahead, your the smart one. Those straight A's mean you can do whatever you want, including hype a team up."
I laughed softly. "No, I don't think I'll be better than you. Your dedicated to this sport, this is your sport. It's your team Terra, express your feelings to them. It's win us a championship."
Terra nodded to me with a smile. She always smiled so big, that's because she knew how beautiful her teeth are. I put on my headphones, turned the volume loud. No disrespect to Terra, but this is how I prepare myself for games. I'll zone out for awhile, then comeback to reality during the game.
Apparently Terra expressing herself to the team worked. Everyone's attitudes was determined, it should had been already. It should had been when they woke up in the morning, at least mine was. But my attitude is always determined for things I believe I need, such as this state championship.
After a minute, we were shooting around on the court. Surprisingly, our coach hadn't said a word to us yet. While we were on the bus he said do what we do best, that's the last I've heard of his voice all day.
He's been our coach all four years. There was only one person who was in the starting five lineup that wasn't a senior. So coach knew us seniors well, he knew how serious my friends and I were going to take the playoffs. I knew how well we do together, he knew we could win the championship with each other. All we needed was to supply our own confidence.
The crowd multiplied, I knew the buses outside weren't everyone. I was good with examining the crowd. There were newscasters here as well. Most likely the men with notebooks were college scouters, they seemed familiar. I spotted my Uncle Starlin, his girl Rush, their baby Starla. My little sister Tashala was with them as well, she's the same age as Starla.
I spotted Jordan soon after as well, he was like a mentor through high school. He was with Taveraz and Cora, who had their triplets with them. I was over excited after seeing them, they were all like family. Besides Uncle Starlin, none of their blood are in my veins. But they all make it easier on me to call them family, I love them.
I took off my warmup shirt when the clock buzzed, signaling it was time for action. My warmup shots were falling, the majority of them at least. It wasn't the best warmup, but I was too busy being occupied with searching for familiar faces in the crowd. Coach called the starting five to him.
"Girls, remember all the hard work it took to get here." Coach started, "stay committed to scoring and getting the ball back to score more. Do what you do best, get your underclass players pumped too. We need the whole team in on this, the bench too. Let's win our first championship."
Coach allowed us to take the court with confidence. He didn't command us to do anything, he basically just told us to do what we like. Terra told Kasey to let them win the tipoff and play defense, she wanted to make our good defense known immediately.
So when the other team won the tipoff, Terra took the ball right from the girl hands. I ran down court with her, to my favorite spot in the corner. I was hoping she'd pass me the ball and to my hopes she did. I shot the ball, making it and starting off the game with a three-pointer.
We played how we always did at gym class and whenever coach let us have our free time at practice. We didn't run any plays, we just passed each other the ball and shot it in the basket. Whenever they had the ball, we just put pressure on them by being in their face. I always put my hand in the girls face so she can't see anything, there's no rule against it and it always works. It was the reason I had about five steals at halftime.
Our whole team dominated the first half. Terra had about ten assist, Kasey and Rene scored about fifteen points, the bench players even contributed as coach said they needed to. We were winning by seven, the whole team felt the confidence in the air.
"Let's keep doing the same thing!" Terra called out when we were in the locker room at halftime. "They haven't been able to stop us, they're scared of us because they know they can't beat us!"
She was being a leader, always saying things to encourage the entire team to play even harder. She was the best of us at that. Kasey was the quiet one, so she's arguably the worst. Either her or Rene, because Rene the crazy one who always does things violently. I'm the smartass, who basically wants to do everything like coach. I think running the plays always works, it makes the other team confused when you run around so much.
When we came back in for the second half, we stuck to our same game plan. But I don't think the other team didn't, they started playing smarter. They made us run even more for the ball, they started spreading our defensive. They were running logical plays that their coach told them to run. Like I said, the plays actually work.
With only one minute left in the game, we were only up two. They came at us hard, we did our best to keep the lead as long as possible. Our bench couldn't do the same, our bench was absolutely shut down. Coach kept Terra in with them though, if he didn't we'd probably be losing badly. Terra managed to score a few times and get a couple assist before the starting five was brought back in at the one minute mark.
With one minute left and a two point lead, the crowd were all on their toes. They were thrilled by the close game, but I hate close games. I've never been in the big stage like this with everyone looking at me. The pressure filled me, it filled my entire time. I could tell when they took the lead against us with just forty seconds left.
We were down by one point when Rend passed the ball in to Terra, forty seconds were now counting down on the clock. Terra was leading our team all game long, she was exhausted. So it was my turn to step up, or watch Terra suffer in her attempt to do everything herself.
She passed it down to Kasey, who shot the ball and missed. The other team didn't waste any time running the length of the court and scoring. Now we were down by three, with seventeen seconds. The other team were putting full court pressure on us, the same way we did them in the beginning of the gun. That caused us to run and pass the ball more. When we reached the other end of the court, just ten seconds remained. I called Terra's name for the ball, she passed it. I took one step closer to the ball so I could just catch and shoot from three-point distance to tie the game, when the ball left my hands and towards the basket. All I did was pray that it went in, and it did.
The crowd got loud as hell, to the point I couldn't even hear what Terra was saying to me. They got loud a few times the other team made a shot, but that's the loudest that I've heard them in the game so far. When the other team inbounds the ball in, I realized what Terra was saying to me. She told me to foul them and send them to the free throw line, even though the game was tied. Terra did exactly that, she fouled the girl by pushing her.
After so many fouls, the other team gets to shoot free throws. If she makes her first shot, she gets to shoot a second. If she misses her first, whoever gets the rebound needs to hurry down court. The crowd was still loud, to the point I walked to Terra in order to hear what she had to say to me.
"There's no way in hell she's going to make it with the crowd this loud." Terra whispered in my ear.
I smiled, hoping Terra was right. Coach didn't like that we fouled and sent her to the free throw line in a tied game, because what if she makes it. If she makes it, we only have seven seconds to score or we lose.
The girl set herself for the shot, after dribbling a few times while eyeing the basket. She finally shot the ball, she finally missed the shot. Kasey took the rebound and threw it hard down to me, I was at half court with just four seconds on the clock. I didn't have much time, I looked to Terra who was yelling at me. I wanted to pass her the ball, but she was mouthing shoot.
Instead of making the pass, I used the last couple seconds to dribble up and shoot another deep ass three-pointer, I was hit in the face hard and fell to the ground. My shot missed like crazy. Terra yelled in excitement though, and helped me stand to my feet.
"You didn't hear the ref blow the whistle?" Terra said as I stood up.
"Girl I can't hear shit!" I replied.
"Come make these free throws girl, you got it." She tapped my shoulder.
I was fouled by the girl who hit me in the face. That was stupid of her to foul me, I was damn near half court. There was probably absolutely no chance of me making that shot. Now, if I make one of my three free throws. I win.
I took my time on my first shot. There was zero seconds on the clock, so I knew the game was in my hands now. All I need to do is just make one shot, then we win. I took a deep breathe, then took my first shot. I made it.