Team Manager CHAMP!
Chapter 11
WEDNESDAY PRACTICE was jubilant. Even though the boys hadn’t won, they’d played a great game. The Angelines were charged up and ready to go for blood.
“You’ve got a lot to be proud of today,” Dennis said as he led conditioning exercises. “Guys, I don’t usually use this kind of phrase about games because you play to win and that’s that. But the odds against a Raider making a half-court basket at the buzzer in an act of desperation are out of sight. You got robbed. So, now you know you need to lead by more than two at the end of the game. Get to your practice and put the dedication it takes into winning Friday night.”
Everyone applauded and Dennis waved the guys back for a minute.
“I heard somebody say something disturbing. It wasn’t a Wolverine. That person said, ‘It’s just a warmup game. The season’s hardly started.’ But we know something and it bears repeating right now as we’re preparing for Friday night’s game against the Tigers. Angelines, what is our Friday night game?”
“The championship game!” yelled out the more experienced players.
“Angelines and Wolverines together. Every game is…”
“The championship game!” they all joined in.
“Now let’s get to practice like we’re playing for the championship Friday night.”
The crew was happy they’d managed to see Brenda play Sunday and beat the Scotties, extending their winning season to seven and two. Brenda had another great game, scoring twenty points. But no one would be able to get all the way to the Tritons to watch the game Wednesday night. It was too long a drive to make after school. Unfortunately, the team was off all evening, losing 58-70.
Thursday morning, Dennis had a clinic with the Bears at DMACC.
“Last night showed us that when there is pressure, we can’t make the shots. Only twenty-three percent from the field. That won’t win us any awards. So, here’s what we’ll work on today. Fadeaway jumpers. Their number 22 blocked ten shots. That would have changed your percentage a lot. And just six of those would have tied the game,” Dennis said. “So, let’s go through the approach, the set, and the shot.”
When Dennis suggested the session to Coach Dearborn, the coach was skeptical.
“That’s the worst shot in basketball,” the coach said. “We only had twenty-three percent last night as it was. Why do you think they should learn a more difficult shot?”
“Two reasons, coach. Number 22 blocked at least one shot from everyone who took one. The only consistent defense against a taller player blocking you is to get back away from her. And it’s just as likely to draw a foul if it’s done right,” Dennis said. “Second, the women need to see this as a limited speed bump, not as the start of a trend. Teaching them something new will make them focus on moving on instead of remediation.”
“Okay. You’ve convinced me. Let’s go see if you can convince the ladies.”
Of course, it wasn’t easy. But once Dennis taught the trick of a fake shot just before the backward jump, nearly every defender fouled the shooter. It was almost impossible to resist. He stressed the importance of judging when the shot was appropriate, primarily from inside against intense coverage. He could see the confidence improve in the women as they went through the one-hour clinic.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get that shot down. It seems like I’m shooting blind,” Brenda said as they drove home so Dennis could make his 1:30 class at Bartley.
“Well, you need it less than most of the others,” Dennis encouraged her. “You were high scorer with thirteen. But all your field goals were three-pointers. And you were perfect from the foul line. You’re less likely to face the same coverage out there that you face on the inside. Still, it’s an alternative to trying to drive around when you get caught in traffic.”
“You’re such a good boyfriend and coach. I don’t want to go away from where you are coaching. Wherever we end up, I’ll want you to work with me, no matter who the coach is.”
“We’ll have lots of time when we’re all three at the same school,” Dennis said. “It’s getting back to coach Amy that will be stressful. I’m worried about her and Lana.”
“Me, too. But you’ve promised to be near enough to get home frequently for Peg, right?”
“Right. I’ve got the list narrowed down to three schools. I’m sure we’ll be okay at one of them.”
“I think that should be our weekend task,” Brenda said. “We need to visit the schools and decide which one we want. We’ve got acceptances at all three. I suppose it will come down to best deal.”
“Ardith keeps telling us to wait until the second half of the season at least before we accept an offer. She says the recruiters will step up their efforts in January and February.”
“All we have to do is keep winning.”
“The good news is it’s fixable. It’s mostly just an irritant,” Neil said when the coaches met Friday morning.
“Why didn’t the inspection they put the building through catch it?” Lyle asked.
“Well, once again, the building wiring is according to spec and passed all the tests. The one they didn’t test was turning on all the power at once, which created a surge in the draw from the power main,” Neil said. “The power main is where the problem was. It didn’t draw enough service to allow for any kind of surge. It will take the power company about a week to get new service hooked up and tested.”
“So, what about tonight’s games?” Ardith asked.
“We know not to bring everything up at once and to keep the general lighting down a little lower. We’ll also make sure we aren’t burning every power drain in the building at the same time. We should be fine. We were showing off Tuesday with tours of the whole building and even had volunteers on the treadmills when the game started.”
“Should be,” Andy sighed. There would be JV boys’ and Freshman/Sophomore girls’ games before the varsity played this evening.
Splitting the girls into two teams reduced the number dressing for the varsity game. Ardith kept Janice dressing for the varsity but all the other freshmen and sophomores joined in the JV game. With only eleven dressing for varsity, it was the smallest team they’d fielded since their first year when they had only nine players.
The freshman/sophomore girls did well, defeating the Tiger team by six points in a low-scoring game. The JV boys also won a narrow victory 32-30. Then it was time for the varsity girls to take the floor. The ritual basketball drill during warmups was immediately attention-getting. The rhythm of all the balls bouncing at the same time was mimicked on the sideline by the cheerleaders and got the fans clapping in unison. The Tigers scarcely knew what to make of the precision.
At least the power stayed on when the lights came up under the guidance of the maintenance people operating that part of the light switch board. Diane, Tori, Natalie, Amy, and Rosie took the floor and Diane controlled the tipoff with ease. It looked like a repeat of Tuesday night with the Tigers scoring only once in each of the first three periods. The thirty-five-point continuous clock ran through the entire second half as the Angelines led by thirty-seven at the end of the half. The first five sat out the last period entirely, letting Chris, Jennifer, Judith, Leanne, Janice, and Shelby play. Interestingly, the Tigers played all substitutes in the last period, both teams wanting to give more girls experience. The Tigers’ subs proved more effective against the Angelines’ subs than the starters had. The Angelines still won the game 62-17.
The boys struggled to keep up with the Tigers and ultimately fell behind to lose their game 54-57. They were still feeling good about the way they played, though. It had been a hard-fought contest.
Saturday morning the teams traveled an hour to the Wolves. The Angelines claimed the court so rapidly that they had a phenomenal thirty-two-point lead at the end of the first quarter. If they had not scored again for the rest of the game, they would still have won. Ardith rotated all the substitute players through the lineup starting in the second quarter and they held their own against the Wolves. The final score was 70-24.
The Wolves had exercised a rare option of playing up a division and had been granted 2A status even though they were a smaller school than the Wolverines. In an oddity of this year’s division system, the Wolverines played in class 1A while the Angelines played in class 2A. The Wolves showed why they were playing in Class 2A as they totally controlled the game against the Wolverines and won handily at 35-46. The Wolves’ coach complimented the Wolverines as playing much harder and better than they expected.
While the Angelines were playing their game, Brenda and the Bears were coming back with a vengeance from their Wednesday night loss as they beat the M-town Tigers 76-58 to extend their season to 8-3. It was the best season the Bears had seen in a long time.
Saturday night, Natalie, Lana, Brenda, Amy, and Dennis slept over at Amy’s house. Gransy had missed Friday and Saturday’s games because she flew to Las Vegas for a weekend with seniors. She’d be back on Monday. Her instructions were to not wreck the house and not to get the police called. Amy had taken that as permission to have her boyfriend and girlfriends over.
“It feels a little strange to just be the five of us,” Dennis said. “Not that I think we need any more,” he hurried to add, “but I don’t want to leave anyone out. We’ve been so close for two years.”
“We’re okay,” Natalie sighed. “Tori broke up with us. Rosie, Leanne, and Diane have been separating for some time and said they weren’t really interested in our ‘sex parties’ as they called them. The only one who’s borderline is Judith, and have you noticed she’s been acting a little strange lately? Even her game is off. She played better last year.”
“Do you think something is wrong?” Brenda asked. “Should we be thinking of an intervention of some sort?”
“I don’t think it’s wrong like that,” Lana said. “We talk. We’ve got three classes together and she’s doing okay in class. But ever since Diane got recruited, I think there’s been some re-evaluation over what her life is like and what she wants in life.”
“You mean, like being afraid she might not get recruited like her sister?” Dennis asked.
“I mean more like, um… she’s afraid she might get recruited. I don’t think she considered that a possibility until it happened to Diane. All of a sudden, she’s faced with the possibility that sports might be something she could or should take more seriously. But she isn’t sure she wants sports to be that big a part of her life. And since it’s a huge part of our lives together, she’s thinking maybe we aren’t the right fit for her.”
“That could only get worse when we leave for college,” Natalie said as they finished dinner and cleared the table. Even with the five of them in the house for the night with no adults, they hadn’t moved straight to getting naked and fucking. After all, they were a family and families didn’t spend all their time in bed.
“Yeah, it will,” Amy agreed. She glanced at Lana, who shook her head slightly.
“Are you okay with all the sex in our group?” Natalie whispered to Lana. The two held each other as Amy and Brenda tried to drain Dennis by rotating back and forth on his cock. Lana giggled.
“It’s not like I’m opposed to sex,” she said. “I mean, I actually like it. I can hardly wait until my turn to get on our boyfriend. My pussy is drooling.”
“Mine, too. Kiss?”
“Oh, yeah.” The two girls occupied each other with kissing and petting. “There are still a few things I don’t want to do,” Lana continued. “Like, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give a blowjob. And I feel bad about that because I love it when Dennis licks me. But the very thought of putting a penis in my mouth makes me gag. I’m not even great at going down on you, but I want to be. That’s different than a blowjob. And, I don’t want anything put up my butt. It gives me cramps down there to think about it.”
“I’m with you on that, girlfriend. We can leave that to the two anal queens over there. Um… do you like it when I go down on you?”
“Oh, yeah! Natalie, when I joined the Angelines, a whole new world opened up to me. I fell in love with you, and Dennis, and Amy, and Brenda. I love it when you love me, any way at all.”
“Then maybe while we’re waiting for Brenda and Amy to pass out, I could make love to you,” Natalie said, kissing her way down Lana, loving the younger girl’s breasts, and sliding down her tummy into her very wet pussy.
Lana whined a little at the first touch of Natalie’s tongue on her clit and then lost herself in the feeling of being loved. When she’d come on Natalie’s tongue, she happily reciprocated, licking her girlfriend to a crashing orgasm. No one was worried about being quiet with just the five of them in the house.
“That was so beautiful,” Brenda sighed. Lana laid her head on Natalie’s mound and turned her wet face toward the other three lovers in the room. “I hope we look like that when we make love.”
“Oh, you do, luscious,” Natalie giggled, bouncing Lana’s head. “You got us all inspired.”
“Well, let us hold and cuddle you while you wait for our boyfriend to wake up,” Amy said, nodding toward where Dennis was sleeping.
“I think you used him up,” Lana said. She rolled off of Natalie and opened her arms to Amy. Brenda quickly wrapped up Natalie. “I want to do that with you sometime.”
“Eat me? Anytime, girlfriend,” Amy said, kissing Lana and then licking her face to get Natalie’s juices off her.
“Oh, yeah. That,” Lana said. “And making love to Dennis with you. I just want to try every combination of the five of us we can get into.”
“You really see it, don’t you,” Amy whispered. “You see it’s really the five of us and we’re going to be together.”
“Yes. I’m so glad we set up our strategy.”
“It might take me part of the summer, but I’m on track. You?”
“I’m with you, honey. And we’ll be with them.”
Sunday morning, Peg was once again in the little Lutheran church to sing for Advent. Her voice rose again to a full church. The girlfriend pew was a little different these days. Leanne and Rosie joined their girlfriends with Dennis. Tori, Judith, and Diane were at the Methodist church in White Center. But many of the other Angelines and several of the Wolverines arrived early enough to fill in the two pews at the front of the church.
Pastor Donnelly spoke after the special music.
“We are so happy to have Peg with us again for Advent. As many of you know, she’s been traveling around the county singing at other churches this fall. I talked to her earlier this week after she’d sung the National Anthem at the opening basketball game Tuesday. She said she was excited to be back home here and didn’t really want to travel around as much. Dot has assured me that her wish will be granted and she is turning down most additional requests.
“I know that many of us who have been blessed by Peg’s music are torn by this decision, since it seems a shame to hog it all for ourselves and not share her with others. But Peg has a very different view of this. She said she sang the flag hymn for her brother and sisters, and that was okay. But she really just wanted to sing to Jesus and could do that in her bedroom, as I’m told she often does. What this tells me is that her music is not given for those of us who enjoy it so much. It is Peg’s special offering to her Lord. And it made me think about what our special offering to the Lord is. We give of our money and we give of our time to help the ministry of the church. But what is the special little thing in our lives that we do for Jesus?”
It was a very nice sermon and got around to the expectation of the prophecy and the purpose of Advent. But it served to get everyone thinking deep thoughts.
Tuesday, the teams traveled to the Cardinals for an away game. The school was less than forty minutes away, so by game time, quite a few of the Bartley fans had made it into the bleachers. Ardith had made a subtle change to the positions, moving Tori to shooting guard and switching Amy to the point. She started switching Judith and Amy more frequently and Judith seemed to wake up on the court. She hit two field goals to Amy’s one, but the difference came in the play-making. Amy had four rebounds, two assists and four steals during the game. Ardith also started switching Janice and Rosie in and out. Both girls were doing a great job at the key forward.
The result was the closest game the team had so far, but even making sure everyone got to play in the last quarter, the Angelines were victorious at 58-28.
The boys’ game was tight from the opening buzzer. They trailed by one at the end of the first half but surged ahead in the third quarter. The Cardinals came back strong in the fourth quarter and tied the game at 41. In the three-minute extra period, the Wolverines pulled ahead by one to win the game 48-47. Both teams were jubilant, celebrating the Wolverines’ first victory and the Angelines’ unbroken win streak of four and zero.
It seemed to take the Angelines the first quarter to hit their stride against the Wildcats Friday night. They led by only two points, 16-14, at the end of the first quarter. It looked like it might be the closest game of their season so far. Then something exploded on the team and the Wildcats seemed to run out of gas as soon as they took the court. The Angelines outscored the Wildcats 29-2 in the second quarter for a halftime score of 45-16. The Wildcats might as well have not showed up for the third quarter. They were blanked and the Angelines carried their game through to the end with more girls getting to play. The final score was 70-21.
The Wolverines, coming off their first win of the season, were fired up and ready to go. They dominated the game all the way through, and if their 64-40 score was not quite as dramatic as the Angelines’ victory, it was enough to boost the team’s morale to a new level. They seemed to be on a blitz.
Amy, Brenda, Natalie, and Lana spent the night with Dennis at his house Friday night and were all up and on the road in the morning for Brenda’s game in Boone against the Statesmen. It was the first time their schedules had permitted Brenda’s girlfriends and boyfriend to attend one of her games and she was psyched to get going.
It was a great game and Brenda led the team with nineteen points, including fifteen from three-point range. It was a celebration with the team after the game, many of whom greeted Dennis warmly and were happy to meet Brenda’s girlfriends.
It seemed like time was accelerating on the run toward Christmas. Dennis and Brenda were in final exams the entire next week at DMACC. Brenda had her final game coming up on Saturday, but it was an away game and no one would make that one.
The Angelines, on the other hand, had game after game in the last seven days before the break. On Tuesday, they took on the Roadrunners at home and wrapped the game up nicely, 61-19. The guys had a tougher time of it, but still managed their third win at 56-55.
There was a huge pep rally on Friday to celebrate the near end of school for the winter—though they still had school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday—and to wish the teams on to a home victory Friday night. The good wishes set well with the Angelines, who beat the Chargers 62-17. The guys, though, lost another squeaker, 64-65. It was a tough one to take.
On Saturday, Brenda traveled to the Lakers and the Bears lost 59-69. She was happy that at least she’d get to attend the last two Bartley games before the break.
Monday, the girls played the 3A Cyclones. The boys sat that one out. It was a tighter game than previous games. The Cyclones had a student body twice the size of Bartley’s and they had a lot of depth on their team. What’s more, they ran like the Angelines. They just didn’t run enough or have the accuracy from the floor that the Angelines had. Rosie really shone with nineteen total points. The only thing that kept her from outscoring Natalie was the number of times Natalie was fouled. She hit eight out of nine attempts from the foul line for a total of twenty-two points. The Angelines took the game 76-51.
They were right back on the court Tuesday night for the last game before the break against the Hawks. Both the boys and the girls drove the game hard. The Angelines played to a 65-24 victory to end before the winter break at nine and zero. The Wolverines’ 62-44 victory brought them to the break at four and four.
Everyone was ready for the holidays.
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