Team Manager CHAMP!
Chapter 17
MONDAY MORNING, Coach Dearborn wanted Dennis to work with the Bears at DMACC. Dennis wasn’t sure he was ready for that after the stinging loss on Saturday, but the Bears had lost two in a row since getting back after the first of the year. They had a long layoff between their game the previous Wednesday and the upcoming game on Thursday.
The consistent thing about the two games was that their new player, Amanda, had scored twenty-four in each game while no one else on the team broke double figures. Dennis was going to be teaching a hard clinic on assists.
“This is one of the hardest things to figure out,” Dennis said. “Right now, there’s a kind of competition to get the shot off and you aren’t looking for the open person. You canned less than thirty percent of your attempts from the field. That was uniform for the whole team. We’re running assists to turnovers at a rate of only 50%. That means you aren’t looking for the best shot.”
“How can we if we never get the ball?” one of the women grumbled. She cast an evil eye toward Amanda.
“Give me a break. I’m the only one who ever hits anything. Why should I pass it off to you?” Amanda shot back.
“You hit the exact same percentage as Libby,” Dennis corrected her. “It isn’t that anyone is doing worse than anyone else. It’s that you are all taking shots that should be given to someone in a better position. Now, no blame here. We all need to pass the ball and find the right person to shoot. That’s what plays are for. Let’s get back to the basics and review the play book.”
It was a painful session. Some of the women seemed to have forgotten all the plays Coach Dearborn had drilled them on in October. A couple had never really looked at the playbook. What they accomplished was to find the hot spot for each of the players—that place where she was most likely to make her shot. It turned out that Amanda’s best shots were from outside the three-point line at the right wing. She didn’t realize that. Just exactly Natalie’s favorite shot.
It would take a while before they got coordinated. They’d be working on the playbook for the rest of the week.
Dennis hurried to Bartley to work with his own girls after their loss on Saturday. He had some rebuilding to do with them.
“Rosie, what the hell?” Dennis exclaimed when he saw her in the gym. She was walking with a crutch and her right foot and ankle were heavily wrapped. Dennis was relieved to see it wasn’t in a cast.
“I fell on the ice and twisted my ankle. With luck it will only be a week or so,” she sniffled.
“Are you sure it isn’t female athlete triad?” Daphne said, scowling at her.
“Believe me, after your experience last year, I got thoroughly checked and tested. I’m of sound mind and body. Or at least I was before this happened. They checked me for concussion, too. I’m having occasional headaches.”
“You hit your head?” Karen asked. The younger freshman had become quite attached to Rosie since the season began.
“Yeah. They were more concerned about that than about my ankle.”
Rosie sat out the training session, watching her teammates and shouting encouragement. It was clear that Janice would start in her place again Tuesday night.
“The Wolves gave us opportunities to win on Saturday. To be precise, seven missed free throws and—I can’t believe this one—eleven missed three-pointers. We only hit one for the bonus. That means we’ll be working on free throws and threes this afternoon. Let’s focus on getting that range, ladies. The Wildcats aren’t the same caliber team as the Wolves, but they smell blood in the water.”
Dennis drilled the girls hard and worked in some of the assist training he’d used to discover hotspots the day before. By the end of practice, the girls—except Rosie—were all feeling much better.
Tuesday night, everyone was a little tense. The first minute of the game was marked by turnovers on both sides. Then Janice, driving for the basket, was fouled and sank two free throws for the first score of the game. For another two minutes, the ball and the score went back and forth. Then the Angelines found their rhythm and opened up the score to 16-8 at the end of the first period.
Janice found her hot spot under the hoop. Every time an Angeline missed a shot, it seemed Janice was there to tip it in. She soon had the high score of the game with sixteen—all scored in the first half. The Angelines led at the half 40-11.
Dennis had the team back off on their full-court press and for most of the fourth period played younger and less experienced players. Nonetheless, the Angelines outscored the Wildcats 21-11 in the second half.
“Hey, girl. You were getting really chummy with that number three out there,” Natalie teased Diane. With Janice’s sixteen points, Diane, Natalie, and Tori had each contributed twelve.
“Belle’s a sweetheart,” Diane said. “We’re going to be classmates at Northwestern next fall. I feel like I know someone now.”
“That’s cool. Will she play basketball?” Amy asked.
“Well, she wasn’t recruited, but she’s going to try to walk on. Who knows, though. She really didn’t have the support of her team out there. If she was playing with the Angelines, she’d be a star,” Diane said.
“Yeah, she’d have my position,” Amy said. “I don’t know why I can’t hit anything all of a sudden.”
“With three steals and three assists, you are still making plays possible for us,” Tori said. “With the way she was hitting threes, it would be more likely she’d replace me.”
“Nobody’s getting replaced,” Natalie said. “We’ve got depth on our team. It was so nice to be back up to full strength tonight. I missed you all out there on Saturday.”
“That three-day flu stuff just kicked my ass,” Liz said. “I’m glad I got to play today.”
“Too bad we’ve got school tomorrow. It would be a good night for pizza.”
While they were chatting, the boys won their game, 58-45. The new kid, Brandon, had come off the bench to contribute thirteen points and the high score for the night.
“Hey, there. I’m Brandon. New kid. Can I join you for lunch today?”
Tori turned around and found herself face-to-face with Brandon.
“Um… Sure. I usually sit with the team.”
“Oh, that’s great. I’m really trying to meet more people in our class. It kind of sucks getting here just in time for the last semester of our senior year,” he said.
“Well, come and meet the gang,” Tori said. “We don’t bite unless you like that kind of thing.”
“Oh, well, I could probably get into it with the right girl,” he laughed.
They got to the table and the girls shifted around to make two seats available next to each other.
“Hey, guys. Have you all met Brandon? He’s new in our class,” Tori said as they sat down. “And on the basketball team.”
“Nice job Tuesday night, Brandon,” Dennis said. “The team needed that help.”
“I was just glad to get a chance to play. Wouldn’t have if we weren’t already ahead,” Brandon said. “Thanks for welcoming me.”
“I’ve got senior English with you,” Natalie said. “Aren’t you in physics?”
“My former school got my schedule screwed up, so I’m back in biology this term. I’ve already taken physics.”
“I’m in that class,” Dennis said. “You can take it for college credit, you know.”
“Not me. My highest aspiration is to stay eligible to play. I’m not much in scholastics otherwise. Um… Aren’t you two in US History?” he asked pointing to Amy and Lana.
“Um… Yeah,” Amy said. “We got permission to take it a year early. Just juniors, you know.”
“Oh. You’re Amy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“We got a chance to talk to some of the guys after the game last night. They said you’re the reason other schools call you the Devilines instead of the Angelines. One of their girlfriends was waiting for them and she said you were a one-person terror squad and she didn’t understand how you could force so many errors on the full court press. She swore you could guard two people at once,” Brandon said.
“I like that,” Natalie said. “From now on, you’re our Deviline.”
“Oh, great. Just wait till Bren hears that!”
“She will,” Lana giggled. “I’ll make sure of that.”
Lunch wrapped up and everyone was happy to have met Brandon. He walked to class with Tori.
“Say, would you like to go out after the game Friday night?” he asked. “Or maybe if you’re too tired after games, we could make it Saturday. I know I’m usually whipped after a game.”
“Sure you want to ask me out and not Amy?” Tori teased.
“Um… Don’t take this wrong, but I got a real lecture from a couple of the guys on the team about certain girls who are off-limits. She’s one of them. I was just thankful you weren’t on their list.”
“I was, but I broke up with them at Thanksgiving. Um… Anyway, sure. How about Saturday afternoon. We could have a little time to get to know each other,” Tori said.
“Sure. I’ll check on movies and give you a time. You’ll let me know where you live so I can pick you up, won’t you?” Brandon asked.
“Since everyone in the school will know we’re going out by then, I think that will be safe.”
They sat next to each other in their economics class.
Friday night, Natalie finally found her three-point range. After two games with no three-pointers scored by the Angelines, Natalie hit five out of seven attempts and Amy sank two for two. Tori grabbed one and the rest of the game was wrapped up under the basket with Janice, Diane, and Judith all contributing to the second 61-21 victory in two games.
When the boys took the court, they were playing with only seven varsity team members. They still managed to dominate the game by controlling the boards. Donnie was back in prime condition and led the team with nineteen. Brandon got his first start for the team and showed he could contribute with assists and steals. He didn’t score as often, but he was a key player. The Wolverines were coming alive with an 11-4 season so far. Everyone was holding their breath.
“Hey, I hope you like Lady Gaga. I found out that Italian movie she’s in is still playing in County Seat,” Brandon said when he picked up Tori Saturday afternoon. She gulped silently.
“Oh, yeah. She’s my favorite. I’d love to see that movie,” Tori said.
They headed into town and immediately started replaying the previous night’s games.
“It seems like we either destroy a team completely or we lose,” Tori said. “I mean, how can you expect two games in a week to have the exact same score?”
“Don’t be too hard on yourselves for that one loss. That was a heck of a game and the whole team was feeling like crap. You had to play with half a team,” Brandon said.
“We should be able to play with just the five of us,” Tori said. “Seven was a luxury. Did you know that two years ago our team took the 3A championship and only had nine players and half a season?”
“You’re kidding, right? 3A?”
“Yeah. Then last year they reclassified everyone and we became 2A. We lost the championship in the last game.”
“And this year we’re 1A? What’s going on?”
“No. The girls are 2A. IGHSAU still has five classes. The boys’ team is 1A because the IaHSAA cut the number to four classes. It’s still weird if you ask me,” Tori said.
They got to the theater and Tori enjoyed the movie without mentioning she’d already seen it. After all, Lady Gaga was her favorite. They went out for burgers after the movie and Tori got to know more about her new friend.
“My dad got transferred here from Sioux City to take over management of the new AgCentral pig farm out here. I don’t know the whole story, but apparently, they had a bunch of things go wrong when the place was built and they’re having to do a bunch of um… what do you call it? Remediation,” Brandon said.
“Did you leave a girlfriend behind?” Tori asked.
“No. You might not believe this, but I’ve never been that good with girls. I was so relieved when you said you’d go out with me that I almost hyperventilated,” he laughed.
“I don’t believe that. You’ve never had a girlfriend?”
“I didn’t say that. I did have. Just not this year.”
“What happened?”
“Um… Got my heart broke. I kinda thought it was the real deal, you know? She got asked out by a senior who was really like the top guy. Athlete, class president, student council, debate club. Probably valedictorian. I don’t know. I just know that one day we were a couple and the next, she tells me she’s pregnant with Cole’s child and is going to marry him. I mean, not literally the next day, but it seemed like it. I was still hoping we’d get back together.”
“Wow! I’m sorry you got played like that. Um… does that mean you’re like a virgin?” Tori asked sheepishly.
“Oh, wow! We’ll get right to that. No. Rose and I did it a few times. It was hard for us to get together and do stuff, you know? I guess Cole had a place they could go.”
“Man, I forget how lucky we are here in Bartley. Once parents figure out that you’re an item, they don’t interfere too much. Except to make sure you’ve got a ready supply of condoms.”
“Um… I take it then that you’re not…”
“No. But don’t think that’s an invitation. I had a steady boyfriend until Thanksgiving. And just because parents are liberal around here, don’t think that means we were in the sack all the time. Too much competition,” Tori said. She really tried not to be bitter. She knew what the outcome would be when she joined the crew. She still sort of wished he’d chosen her.
“Other girls took your guy?”
“Um… Geez. You’ll find out soon enough about all this. It’s hardly a secret. Everybody knows about the Angelines. You know, I told you they won the championship two years ago? Well, all nine Angelines ended up being Dennis’s girlfriends. As a group. I joined the next year along with two others. Me and four others retired from the group. And one’s in college. So, the girls you got warned away from…”
“Natalie, Amy, Lana, Judith…”
“Yeah. Maybe Leanne and Rosie, but I think they’ve pulled away, too. Diane, Debbie, and me used to be part of the crew. Two others graduated and broke up last spring.”
“Wait. Dennis? Like the coach? That doesn’t seem right.”
“Our coach quit at right after New Year’s to take over the team at Salter U. There was no one else to take over the team. And Dennis is really good as a coach. He did half the coaching anyway.”
“Yeah, but he’s like sleeping with half the team?”
“Only three or four now. I’m not sure about Judith.”
“And everybody’s just okay with that? I mean the girls are okay with it?” Brandon asked.
“You’ve got to understand, Bran, Dennis is a unique person, and the girls are unique, too. They’re into each other as much as they are into him. I’m just worried about what will happen with Amy and Lana when Dennis and Natalie go off to college next year,” Tori said.
Brandon took Tori home and she kissed him at the door. It wasn’t a deep or passionate kiss, but Tori kind of hoped they’d do it again. As soon as he’d left, she went out to the barn and to her own room.
Saturday, Dennis, Natalie, Amy, and Lana went to Salter to watch the Crusaders take on the Kohawks. They saw some really hot basketball. The starters set the pace early on and Ardith started substituting the other girls in and out of the lineup frequently. Brenda came in and immediately nailed a three-pointer. At the end of the first quarter, the Crusaders led 30-12. Of course, they all cheered frantically whenever Brenda was on the court, and maybe that inspired her. She played a total of eighteen minutes out of the forty-minute game and scored twenty points to lead the scoring for the Crusaders. Salter won the game 89-53.
The four waited around until Brenda came out to join them for the boys’ game, which was far less exciting than the girls had been. Eventually, Ardith joined them as well and was sandwiched between Dennis and Lana. Brenda had all she could handle between Amy and Natalie.
“You saw us at our best,” Ardith said. “These girls are incredible. To think they played the first half of the season without a coach! I got every one of them in to play this afternoon and the so-called weakest member of the team scored four points. Does it make you excited to come here to play?”
“Um… Neither Lana nor I play, Ardith,” Dennis said. “I think those two are bananas over it, though.”
“Well, I wasn’t meaning that you’d be on the court. I’m counting on having you as a student coach next season,” Ardith said. “You’ll have your AA and certificate by fall, right?”
“I’ll have my AA at the end of this semester,” Dennis said. “I guess I could stay around Bartley long enough this summer to finish my certification as well.”
“You should,” Ardith said. “We really need to be careful about some appearances. There’s still a thirty-day waiting period after you graduate and I’m pushing the boundary by sitting with my arms around the two of you. What do you want to do, Lana?”
“Oh, well, I know we haven’t been as close as you’ve been to the others, but I hope we’ll get closer. I really like you,” Lana said.
“I really like you, too, sweetheart,” Ardith said, giving her a squeeze. “And I’m sure we’ll get closer. But I meant, what do you want to do in college?”
“Oh. Yeah. I wasn’t thinking. I’d love to keep managing the team if you need a volunteer. But I’m not a heavy-duty athlete like the others. Except, I’d really like to improve my high jump. I just feel like I should be able to clear the 5'6" bar this year. I don’t think that’s quite Division III level high jumping, though. I want to study kiddie lit with a goal to teach elementary school.”
“When did you get interested in children’s stories?” Dennis laughed.
“Um… When I started hearing you read to Peg,” Lana said. “I just think the connection between an adult and child that’s made through a story is unbelievable. I’ve been reading stories to Sofie and Nils, even though they can read for themselves. It just is something cool that we’re doing.”
“That’s very cool,” Ardith said. “I’ll investigate the programs here and see what I can come up with. What kind of financial aid will you need? It’s not likely I’ll be able to get you an athletic scholarship.”
“I have a college fund Grandma and Grandpa set up for me, but it probably won’t cover everything. I hate to ask Mom and Dad for extra because they still have the other two to think of. I can get a job, though.”
“Okay. I’ll investigate all the options. We’ll want to make an announcement right after the season is over. Right?” Ardith said.
“The sooner the better,” Dennis agreed. He wrapped his arm around Ardith and found Lana’s there as well. All three hugged.
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