Chapter 25

“THIS IS YOUR FINAL TEST of the weeklong camp,” Ardith told the girls as they met in the locker room to refresh themselves after a light dinner. Dennis had taped Diane’s ankle but the girls were all in their athletic sport bras and hot pants shorts. “You all know you’re asking for trouble wearing what you are. The only moves these boys know are on girls.”

“Let them try,” Brenda growled. “By the time we’re done, they won’t even have pants. We’re going to beat the pants right off them.” The girls cheered.

“I know the boys have only won three games this year. Remember they are coming off the high of winning one last night. They learned something by watching you play this week. Coach Byers got a clue and started working them on fundamentals again. They do not want to be embarrassed by the girls’ team,” Ardith said. It had taken a little convincing, but after Jim watched the girls practice, he’d agreed to play the varsity boys’ team against them for their Saturday evening scrimmage.

What none of them knew was that the boosters had sold tickets for the exhibition and had a full complement of scorers, timekeeper, and refs for the game. Nearly two hundred school fans had piled into the gym to watch the Wolverines take on the Angelines. And the stands were well-divided with the Angelines being the home team and the Wolverines being the visitors. The boys were unhappy about being the visitors in their own gym and were determined to humiliate the girls.

The girls had all watched the boys play often enough that they were confident in their ability. The boys were taller and more intimidating, but the girls had practiced for tall teams, and had done well against them.

“They’ll expect us to play all our height against them. And for a couple of positions, we will. Rosie and Roberta at forward. Diane at center. Natalie at point and Brenda at the breaking guard. Our best bet is to keep away from them. Run, run, run. These boys aren’t in as good condition as you are. They are depending on their height and strength to win the game. Don’t let them throw it around. We’ll make substitutions at every buzzer. They’ll be facing a new player every time they turn around.”

It was a strong strategy. Dennis had pinned the girl’s numbers to their light blue practice jerseys. They donned them and headed for the court for warmups.

The boys had chosen black T-shirts for their visitor uniform and were wearing their regular gym shorts. When the girls started stretching and warming up, the boys just stood and stared. When each girl stepped up to the foul line and sank a practice shot, the boys were suddenly jolted back to reality and scrambled to warm up and get some shots in.

Jim was, as he had put it, letting them hang themselves. He wasn’t yelling and shouting or getting them in line. If they didn’t know the routine by this time, they deserved the humiliation that was about to be heaped upon them. The buzzer sounded and the teams came in for their pregame chants. Dennis led the girls in shouting ‘Angelines!’ and they took the court. The officials followed protocol, and everyone stood for the National Anthem as soon as both teams were introduced.

When Rick Probst, the varsity’s six-foot-six center prepared for the opening tip off, he wasn’t expecting five-foot-nothing Brenda to be in the circle with him. He figured the girls had already given up and he could just tip to his favorite guard and get some quick points on the board. That was where he made the first mistake of the game.

Brenda didn’t even try to jump against the giant. When the ball left the ref’s hand, she took off as hard as she could for their basket. Rosie, Roberta, and Diane all went into the air cutting the two guards off from the tipped ball. Rosie batted the ball over and to Natalie who fired a deep court pass to Brenda. Brenda laid the ball up and in for the first score. In the stunned silence, everyone heard Peg yell, “Swish!” The girls were all up court ready to defend before the boys had passed the ball inbounds.

The boys scored, but not nearly enough. They tried to adapt to the girls’ type of play, but they didn’t know from one play to the next who they’d be guarding. The girls seemed to not hold to any position. When the boys went to one-on-one coverage, the girls passed around them, seemingly never looking where they were passing the ball. When they switched to a zone defense, the girls shot over their heads for three-pointers. At one point, a frustrated Rick Probst drove toward the basket and went up to dunk it, only to have his shot bounce off the back of the rim and all the way out to where Brenda was waiting for the fast break. By the time the boys had turned and made it to half court, she’d passed the ball to Natalie, who put it in for an uncontested two points.

Every time the girls touched the ball, they were off on a fast break, leaving exhausted boys behind them. The boys committed more turnovers than field goals, and even though the girls didn’t score on every possession, it was enough to leave the boys ten points behind at the half. Every time a player hit the floor and the whistle blew, Dennis was on the move with a towel to wipe up the sweat off the floor. If a ref spotted a slick spot on the floor, he would hold the next out of bounds until Dennis could get out to wipe it up. The boys’ team managers never got farther than the baseline with a towel, if they got up at all.

In the locker room, he passed out water bottles and the girls drank thirstily as he went down the row rubbing shoulders and giving the girls encouragement.

“The Wolverines think we’re as tired as they are,” Ardith said. “But what are we going to do in the second half?”

“Run, run, run,” the girls shouted.

“Run and gun,” Ardith clarified. “They’re going to try to close up the inside. What does that mean?”

“Three-point opportunities,” they responded.

“We’re leading by ten points. Do you know where those points came from? They came from your perfect fifteen for fifteen at the foul line. And their four of twelve at the foul line. Here’s what that means. You can be more aggressive. More aggressive attacking the ball. More aggressive under the board. More aggressive blocking shots. If you foul them, they have a one in three chance of scoring a point and we get possession. But be careful. If it gets too rough out there, they’ll get rough and we can’t take that. Avoid their fouls if you can. If you can’t, sink your shot.”

“Our most effective move seems to be frequent substitutions,” Natalie ventured. “They never know who they’re guarding.”

“And we’re going to continue that,” Ardith said. “In fact, we’ll speed it up. Expect two substitutions on some buzzers instead of one. Just listen to your name and position and keep it moving. We don’t have this game sewed up. Stay focused and we’ll have a great second half. Who are we?”

“Angelines!”

Dennis made sure each girl had a fresh towel when she returned to the court. They were surprised at the huge round of applause and cheering they got when they came back into the gym. And it came from both sides of the bleachers. They couldn’t pull the same trick at the tip off they had at the opening. Rosie went up against Rick and got just enough hand on the ball to deflect it from his intended teammate. Amy scooped the ball up, shoveled it out to Judith, who passed down court to Daniella. She took one step and dunked the ball, something even her own teammates were surprised at.

From then on, the varsity exhibited the same decline in performance they had in the second half of every game this season. When the final buzzer rang, the Angelines were up by eighteen points. The spectators started chanting, “Angelines! Angelines! Angelines!” It wasn’t only the home side of the bleachers, but the visitors’ side as well. After all, they were all from the same school. The girls went out to shake hands with the boys, but the boys just dropped to their knees and bowed to the floor in front of them. That just made the crowd go even wilder.

Ardith accepted Jim’s congratulations and even the refs congratulated her. About fifteen minutes after the game ended, she headed to the locker room to congratulate the girls again. She stopped short when she opened the door.

The girls were celebrating on the way to the locker room and simply swept Dennis into the room with them. They started stripping off their powder blue jerseys on the way into the locker room. Their bras quickly followed. Dennis sat on his stool at the end of the bench to take Diane’s tape off her ankle. She tossed a towel on the bench and sat her bare butt on it. Dennis looked up at her. She didn’t have a stitch of clothing on and sat with one foot on the floor and the other in his lap, spreading her pussy wide.

“Uh ... Diane,” Dennis panted as he tried to focus on cutting off the tape without cutting her. “You’re ... I mean ... I can see...”

“England and France?” she asked.

“Only there’s no underpants,” he responded. She looked down at her bare breasts and pussy.

“Oh, dear. Did I forget my underwear? Whatever shall I do? I am so embarrassed.” She said the words loudly and individually, as if they were the memorized speech of a six-year-old in a church Christmas pageant. The other girls pelted her with various pieces of their underwear and Dennis realized they were all naked.

“Happy birthday, Angeline Team Manager!” they shouted. They began pouring bottled water over him just as Ardith opened the door. She almost said something, but Dennis was laughing and the girls started singing happy birthday. She backed out of the locker room and went to her office. Damn! She wished she was sixteen.