Team Manager CHAMP!
Chapter 18
BRENDA AND AMY rode back to Bartley with Ardith. They stopped along the way to have soft delicious kisses, but when they got to Bartley, Ardith dropped the girls off at Amy’s house and went home alone. It was a real pain to leave, but at least she’d have company when she returned to Salter. Amy was so luscious and excited to be with her, she was hard to resist. With Brenda, she didn’t need to resist.
Dennis, Natalie, and Lana were a different situation entirely. She almost invited them to just stay in Salter instead of going back to Bartley. The hug and kiss she’d had with each before they got in their cars left her primed and ready. But she could justify herself all she wanted—the law was still the law. She just hoped she’d moved far enough away to keep temptation at bay.
Once at home, she undressed, showered, and fixed herself a cup of tea. She curled up in her bed, determined to view the recording of the game. It played on her laptop next to her, but she couldn’t focus on it. Her mind kept straying to the yummy kisses her girlfriends and boyfriend had given her.
She had to admit to herself that they were her girlfriends and boyfriend. There was no kidding herself that they were just students she found likable. This was serious. Lana’s kiss was so sweet and hesitant, showing she had less experience than the other three girls but was happy to be learning. Ardith imagined caressing the girl’s breasts as they kissed and felt her hand touch her own breast.
Hard driving Natalie approached kissing the same way she approached the net in basketball. She had a goal in sight and wasn’t satisfied until she’d made her shot. She pressed her entire body against Ardith as they kissed, and wiggled a little to stimulate their breasts. Ardith could just imagine opening her shirt and sucking on her tall girlfriend’s breasts as their fingers found the juicy swamps between their legs. Ardith discovered her own fingers parting the curtains of her sex and spreading the abundant lubricant around her clit. Oh, Natalie!
But then there was Dennis. It was Ardith who had done the pressing when she’d kissed her boyfriend. She could feel the stiffness in his jeans and ground her mound against him, eliciting a low groan as they kissed. Yes, one day soon it would be his cock plunging into her instead of the two fingers that were furiously fucking her own cunt.
“Oh, Dennis,” she moaned as she climaxed. “Fuck me!”
“Seriously?” Natalie whispered in the locker room. “You went to that movie with Dennis!”
“Don’t tell. Besides, I liked it and didn’t mind seeing it again,” Tori said. “Last date and first date.”
“There’s going to be more?”
“If he asks me. I think he will. You know, it was different. There was something special about Dennis choosing that movie because he knew I liked Lady Gaga. But Brandon chose it because he liked Lady Gaga, too. Like we shared that. It was nice.”
“Well, I’m glad, honey. You deserve something nice. I hope he’s everything you want,” Natalie said, giving her former girlfriend a hug. “Now let’s get our heads in the game. We need to be on top tomorrow night.”
“What’s up with the games this week?” Diane asked. “It’s like two little schools right before we start the regionals.”
“I don’t know. We should ask Dennis. There must be something up.”
“Okay, here’s the story,” Dennis said. “The Blue Devils were on our schedule. Yes, they are a 1A school, but they are also undefeated this season. They are coming here to hone their competitive edge against a top ranked 2A school. Yeah, that’s you guys. We’re ranked in the top ten in the state. But these girls have dominated everyone they’ve met so far. We need to be at the top of our game. The Spartans were added this week. This little team is a big threat. Their school is less than half our size and only have eleven on their team. But they, too, are undefeated this year and are looking to up their game against a big school. I think there is a little competition between the Spartans and the Blue Devils to see who can do better against us. They both have a victory in mind.”
“No way,” the girls shouted.
“We’ll have the Blue Devils here tomorrow night. We’ll travel to the Spartans on Thursday. Do not underestimate these teams. I think we learned our lesson against the Wolves, right?”
“They never should have won that game,” growled Diane.
“And they wouldn’t have if we’d been three points ahead instead of two. You’re used to playing so far out ahead of the competition that we don’t need to worry about that last second shot. Well, we do need to worry about it. We have to have a three-point lead to ensure a tie. Four points to guarantee a win. Don’t let up. Every play counts.”
“Yes, sir!”
“What are we going to do?”
“Beat ‘em!”
“How will we do it?”
“Run, run, run!”
“Who are we?”
“Angelines!”
“And one Deviline!” Lana laughed, pointing at Amy.
The team started their shooting drills and Dennis pushed them hard. He’d reviewed the stats on the Blue Devils and they weren’t encouraging. They’d been winning most of their games by twenty points or more, never trailing at the end of a period. They’d handled the Wolves by fifteen points. The team needed to be sharp for this one.
Tuesday, Brandon joined the boys’ team table to be in solidarity with the team. The girls’ table gossiped, of course, and had seen him holding Tori’s hand briefly in the cafeteria line. She blushed and grinned.
“It’s nice,” she said. “Just, everybody, hands-off. This one’s mine.”
The girls had a brief scrimmage right after school, skipping the conditioning exercises. Dennis was happy to get them loosened up and they were looking good. At game time, they came out in their powder blue uniforms as the home team, meeting the Blue Devils in their gold away uniforms. At six o’clock, the tip off was controlled by the Blue Devils. There was a lot of pressing and testing by both teams and no score was made through the first minute of play. Then the ball went to the right baseline corner where a Blue Devil sank a three pointer with nothing but net. Tori brought the ball downcourt, fending off an aggressive full court press and passing to Amy. Amy shot the ball back inside to Tori on a cut and she laid it up and in.
Then it all seemed to fall apart. The tall sophomore on the Blue Devils team sank three more three-pointers before the Angelines managed another score, making it 4-14 with just three minutes to play in the first quarter. Dennis called a time out.
“We’ve got two things that are critical. You need to shut down number 23 in that corner. She’s hit four of four out there. We’ll use the two three zone, but keep an eye on her and make sure that whenever she’s got the ball, she sees nothing but Angelines. Second, they’re closing up the inside. Amy, Tori, Natalie, Diane, we need those three-pointers. Janice, be ready to move in under the net anytime one of them shoots. You can make any missed shot into a basket. And don’t be afraid to get into the middle of them while dribbling. Go for the basket and they’ll foul you. Ready?”
“Angelines!” they shouted, heading back for the floor.
That seemed to turn the tide and Diane sank a three to start the shift. The Angelines finished out the quarter scoring twelve and holding the Blue Devils to none. In the second quarter, the Blue Devils refused to give up, gaining a point on the Angelines to finish the half at 25-24.
The second half was just as tense. The Angelines picked up a stronger lead at 35-29 in the third quarter. Amy had managed four steals, but they’d kept her from getting a shot off. They were holding Tori out as well, but she pulled out four steals and drew a foul to sink two free throws.
In the last quarter, the Blue Devils managed to tie the score at 39 with two minutes to go. Natalie drove for two and picked up the foul to bring the score to 42. The Blue Devils weren’t finished yet. They were determined to stop Natalie and fouled her three times. In a rare occurrence Natalie missed all three attempts. Judith, in for Amy, was a surprise as she grabbed the ball away from a Blue Devil on the inbound pass and laid it in for a final score in the game of 44-41. The Angelines were sweating when they finally made it to the showers.
“Did you know there are only two seniors and one junior on their team?” Amy said as she stepped into the shower. “Most of that team will be back next year! Five freshmen and four sophomores. Including that number 23 who just keeps shooting and sinking them. If we’d picked up on her earlier in the first quarter, we’d have had a bigger lead.”
“If I’d hit my stupid foul shots, we’d have had a bigger lead,” Natalie sulked. “One out of four! I can’t believe it. I’m so sorry.”
“Girl, you hit three threes and six twos. You scored twenty-two points. I’m sorry I wasn’t more help,” Tori said.
“Thank goodness for Janice under the hoop. Four baskets and two free throws saved our bacon,” Diane said. “I’ll be lucky if Northwestern doesn’t rescind my scholarship.”
“Can they do that?” Janice asked, horrified.
“I don’t know. I suppose they can do anything they want.”
“But you had blocks and assists all over the place. That has to be worth something,” Liz said. “Don’t tell me colleges are that dumb.”
“Don’t worry, girl,” Natalie said, putting an arm around Diane. “It will be okay, and you’ll start getting more opportunities. Without your screens, I’d never get inside. You know that’s what they’ve got Roberta doing at State? She’s a starter every game, but all three of her sisters have more points than she does. They get them by letting her put up the screen for them and then driving for the basket. She’s been most valuable player three times.”
“Mmm. Thanks, honey,” Diane said, giving Nat a quick kiss. “Just keep doing what you do so well. We all depend on you.”
“Everybody decent? The coach wants in,” Josie called to the girls.
“We’re good,” they called. Decent rather depended on which girl was answering. The younger girls were all dressed. The seniors, most of whom were or had been Dennis’s girlfriends, were at least in their underwear.
“Good game!” Dennis called out. “We’ve all been called up to the court for half-time of the boys’ game. And believe me, the guys are having even more problems handling this school than we did. The Blue Devil Boys are also undefeated and have a dude on the team who’s nailing three-pointers even faster than the girl number 23. Anyway, the boosters have some kind of recognition they want to do out there.”
“Okay, Coach. We’re on our way,” the girls called.
They were just in time to see the boys leave the court for halftime trailing by two, 29-31. The girls were guided to sit on the chairs the boys were using as the guys headed for the locker room.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mark Reisner announced in his best radio voice. “We have a special recognition this evening honoring one of our Angelines. Here to present the game ball on behalf of the Boosters is chairman Wilmer Dietz of Dietz Chevrolet here in town.”
“I’d like to have Coach Dennis Enders join me for this presentation,” Wilmer said. Dennis went up to join him, still not sure what this celebration was about. “We started a girls’ basketball team here at Bartley High just three years ago. That first season was only sixteen games, including the state championship in Class 3A. That makes this accomplishment especially meaningful since as of now it represents just over two full seasons of play. We of the Boosters would like to recognize Natalie Armor, a driving force behind this team. Natalie, come up here and stand beside your coach.”
Natalie looked startled as she came to stand between Dennis and Wilmer.
“What’s this about?” she whispered to Dennis.
“No idea,” he answered.
“Natalie has played in every game the Angelines have played since they were founded,” Wilmer continued. “We are proud to present her with this game ball from tonight’s game in recognition of her scoring her one-thousandth point for the Angelines.” He handed Natalie the ball.
“Really? I did that?” she gasped.
The cheerleaders formed an arc around the three and led a cheer for Natalie and the Angelines. The fans applauded and as they returned to the team who all surrounded her and jumped up and down congratulating her.
“We have some more details,” Mark announced. “This season, Natalie has started in all seventeen games and has made 48% of her field goal attempts and a shocking seventy-two of ninety free throws for a total of 359 points so far this season. Stack that up with fifty-two rebounds, forty-nine assists, and ninety steals. The college that gets Natalie Armor next fall is assured a winning season!”
They all settled down and went up into the stands to watch the second half of the boys’ game. It was painful. The Blue Devils’ top shooter dropped in six three-pointers and a total of thirty-three points to lead his team to a 64-69 victory.
“I’m so thankful we won,” Natalie said. “I’d hate to be presented with the game ball from a game we lost!”
The crew giggled and dispersed after the game. A few of the players waited for the boys to come out of the locker room after the game to give their boyfriends a hug. Tori was a little bashful, but located Brandon and gave him a hug right away. They walked out of the athletic pavilion together, holding hands, but got in their own cars to go to their own homes.
When Dennis got to Bartley from Boone on Wednesday, he went to join his crew at the lunch table. It took him only a moment to see that Natalie wasn’t there and the team was looking worried.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Where’s Natalie?”
“In the gym,” Amy said. “We should probably all be there but she didn’t want company.”
Dennis turned around and headed straight to the gym. The athletic pavilion gym was not normally in use during lunch, though several athletes spent their lunch time in the weight room. Natalie was at the foul line with a rack of balls beside her, shooting free throws one after another.
“Trying to break my record?” he asked as he snagged a ball after another swish and tossed it back to her. She immediately launched it for another swish.
“Trying not to make a total ass of myself at the foul line.”
Dennis could see that she was fighting back tears, but her next shot was through the hoop again.
“Hey, babe. Don’t be hard on yourself because you had a bad night. You won that game with twenty-two points.”
“I could have cost the team the win! I missed three free throws in a row? How could I do that? And then they gave me the game ball, like that was a night I want to remember.”
“Straighten up, Natalie!” Dennis barked at her. She turned to look at him and he strode up the lane to face her. He put both hands on her shoulders. She started to shrug away, but he held her eyes. “I’m glad you’re practicing. Practice is how we correct mistakes. I’m not happy about the self-recriminations. You did not cost us the game. You did not make an ass of yourself at the foul line. When you are at fault for something, I’ll tell you about it. You weren’t at fault last night. Do you understand me?”
The tears started to run freely and Natalie collapsed against her lover.
“I’m so afraid I’ll screw up. Everyone is counting on me to bring home the state championship. What if I’m not that good? Ardith won’t even want to recruit me,” she sobbed.
“That’s not true,” he said, holding her tightly. “It’s not true that we expect you to bring home the state championship. We have an entire team devoted to that. And even if we don’t bring home the championship, Ardith will still want you and recruit you. What’s more, you are that good. You’re averaging 21.7 points per game. So what if last night was only average? Average for you puts you head and shoulders above everyone else in the conference. Now stop getting down on yourself and get ready to build up our team. It’s true you’re our leader and captain. The team looks to you to set the attitude. And you know what that attitude is.”
“We’re going to win.”
“Right. And the only thing that matters…”
“…is the next game. The championship game.”
“I love you, Natalie.”
By practice time, things seemed to have evened out overall and Natalie was on top of encouraging her teammates. They all improved and got ready to travel the next night.
In the meantime, Dennis, Natalie, Amy, and Lana met at Natalie’s house to watch the stream of Salter’s game against the Duhawks. That got all their hearts beating. For the first time all season, the Crusaders went into the fourth quarter trailing 61-63. They went into the last quarter led by Brenda with another three-pointer and two two-pointers to bring the Crusaders to a 73-67 lead. They maintained and stretched the lead out through the quarter and the Crusaders won the match 81-74.
“Look at this! Brenda tied your game last night. It’s her career high at Salter with 22 points. She sank five three-pointers!” The girls were excited and as soon as they thought she’d be out of the showers, Amy called to congratulate Brenda. Dennis was on the phone with Ardith and congratulated her on the team’s performance.
“We’ve got some spunky girls here at Salter,” Ardith laughed. “Never say die. And Brenda is definitely one of them.”
“Well, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Last night was a tough one,” Dennis said.
“Keep encouraging them, Den. They’ll do the work because they all love you. And tell them I believe in them.”
“I’ll do that, love. Have a good night.”
“Oh, I think I will,” she laughed.
The Angelines were plagued from the opening buzzer Thursday night against the Spartans. It seemed they couldn’t move under the basket without drawing a foul. At the end of the first quarter there were twelve fouls against the Angelines and six of the Spartans’ points had come on free throws. That put them ahead at the end of the first quarter 14-16. Worse, by the end of the half, Diane, Janice, Leanne, and Tori were all in foul trouble with three fouls on each. In spite of that, the Angelines had fought back for a two-point lead at the end of the first half, 28-26.
“Talk to me,” Dennis said in the locker room as they mopped up their sweat and drinking down water.
“They’re calling anything under the basket as a foul on us,” Diane said. “I had my hands completely on the ball. That girl spun around, practically dragging me off my feet, and I got called for reaching around.”
“Really. I got called for charging in the middle of a shot. How is that even a thing?” Janice complained.
Rosie, still limping, but not on crutches, joined Lana and Debbie in giving shoulder massages and comforting words.
“They’re going to put on more pressure,” Dennis said. “They think they won’t be called for fouls, so they’ll get more aggressive. Get the ball out and down court. Don’t let them trap you. I’ll substitute Judith and Leanne and Carrie in more often. Chris and Shelby, be sure you’re warmed up good, you’ll be on call. But ladies, we need each and every one of you out there. Hold tight and stay safe.”
It was a weak pep talk, but the Angelines hit the court and in three minutes had a nine-point lead. Amy hit a scoring streak and dropped in eight points over the next eight minutes. Judith contributed as well with a basket followed by a steal and fast break for a quick layup. The Angelines led by ten at the end of the third.
The Spartans pulled back within two by executing the full court press Dennis had predicted. The Angelines had never faced that much pressure in getting the ball downcourt. The Spartans were forcing turnovers at the highest rate the Angelines had ever seen. Things started getting scrappy and Diane fouled out. Just a minute later, Janice fouled out. With two minutes to go in the game, Leanne fouled out. Tori, Natalie, and Amy were still in with Judith and Carrie. Three of them had four fouls each and a few seconds later, Amy fouled out. Then the tide started to turn again as the Spartans started fouling. Tori and Natalie dropped in eight straight free throws for a 58-53 lead as time ran out for the Spartans.
There was no boys’ game following this one as it had been an add-on to the season for the girls. The girls simply packed up their bags and headed back to Bartley, too tired to even get showered first. Fortunately, the bus driver had left early and got the bus warmed up. Josie surprised the girls by handing each a blanket as she boarded the bus for the hour-long trip home.
Even though Friday was a school day, Natalie, Amy, and Lana went home with Dennis and cuddled in his big bed. They were all too tired to play, but wanted to be close to each other for the night.
They’d won. Natalie’s six free throws in the last ninety seconds of the game had been enough!
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