Chapter 22

“WHAT ARE WE going to do?” Ardith shouted.

“Beat ‘em!” answered the team.

“How are we going to do it?”

“Run, run, run!”

“Who are we?”

“Angelines!”

“Let’s go!”

It was the day before Thanksgiving break and the Angelines were once again scrimmaging against the varsity team. Both teams remembered the varsity’s humiliating defeat the year before. The Angelines were determined to repeat and the Wolverines were out for revenge. It would be a much different game this year. When school resumed after the holiday, they would be cheering for each other as they faced their first opponents.

Dennis and Lana had been busy from the time their light workout was finished until game warmups at 4:30 taping ankles and Daphne’s wrist. She’d bent it back attempting a block the day before and Dennis wanted to make sure she had the extra support.

“Can you tape my boobs in, too?” Daphne snarked at him. Her weight-gaining regime had resulted in a sudden padding of fat on her chest that she still wasn’t used to.

“Your sports bra will keep them under control,” Dennis laughed. “Think of how much stronger your legs have gotten in the past two months!”

“I know it’s good for me, but I still can help thinking I’ve gotten fat,” Daphne said. “Help me, please.”

“Daph, you’ve put on another inch since basketball practice started. Up, not out. You’re six-one now and are going to start tonight’s game. You’re stronger now than you ever were playing volleyball and you touched the rim in practice last week. You’ll be up there with Daniella before you know it,” Dennis said.

“You really do care, don’t you?”

“You’re one of my Angelines. You bet I care!”

Ardith’s strategy was different this year than it had been the previous year. She knew she couldn’t surprise the boys with a fake jump and fast break. She was starting her tallest five against the Wolverines. At 6’1”, Daphne would be the fourth tallest girl on the court. Roberta, Daniella, and Rosie had all reached 6’2”. Natalie was fifth at 5’11”. Daniella—still the only girl on the squad who could dunk the basketball—would square off against Rick Probst at center for the tip-off. She’d move to breaking guard then as Rosie picked up Rick at center. Roberta and Daphne would pick up the forward positions and Natalie would handle the point guard. All told, three of their five players would be taller than the boys they guarded.

The boosters had sold tickets for the scrimmage to support the acquisition of more basketballs. With drills involving all three Bartley teams and the non-team conditioning students at the same time, they needed another twenty balls so everyone would have balls to work with. Even the cheerleaders were getting into the drills.

The game wasn’t the only entertainment for the evening. The JV and cheerleaders would demonstrate the drills that had improved all three teams’ competency on the court. Then there would be a free throw competition. Each of the three teams would enter their best free throw shooter to compete with Dennis in a ‘best of twenty’ contest. It would be an entertaining evening.

The buzzer sounded and everyone stood for the National Anthem and introduction of the players. Even the introductions took longer than usual as they introduced all the teams and the cheerleaders as well as the wrestlers. Instead of playing in their practice jerseys and sport shorts, both teams were dressed in their full uniforms. Since the girls had been the home team the previous year, they were the visitors this year and proudly wore all new burgundy uniforms.

The teams lined up for the tip-off and the game was on. With three inches on Daniella, Rick controlled the tip, but Daniella managed to get a hand on the ball and deflect it slightly. That meant Donnie had to struggle to gain control of the ball and Natalie tied him up for an immediate jump ball. This time, the girls had the advantage as Natalie was an inch taller than Donnie. They went into the air and Natalie tipped to Roberta, who immediately sent the ball downcourt to a breaking Daniella. Si Goodman almost got to her before she went up for the shot, but he was too late to stop her dunk for the first score of the game.

With the excitement of the first minute of play coursing through their veins, both teams had to settle down and start focusing their play and their coordination. It wasn’t long before it was obvious that this year’s varsity was much better matched with the Angelines. Dennis felt guilty that he’d drilled the varsity and junior varsity so well that they were a threat to his Angelines. At the same time, he was proud to have had a role to play in the improvement of the boys’ team.

The score rocked forward and back throughout the first half and the Wolverines held a four-point lead at the end of the half. Dennis accompanied his team to the locker room only long enough to encourage each girl and then leave for the gym floor and the dribbling demonstration.

“Ladies and gentlemen, everyone wants to know how our teams made such an improvement this year over last. Our three coaches, Coach Anderson, Coach Griffith, and Coach Graves, all committed to working the teams hard on fundamentals—even more than on creating plays. Here to demonstrate how hard they’ve worked are the Wolverine Junior Varsity, the Bartley Cheerleaders, and our conditioning and skills trainer, Junior Dennis Enders. Please welcome them to the court.” There was a lot of cheering and applause as the JV lined up at one end of the court and the cheerleaders with Dennis at the other end. Dennis began bouncing his ball and the cheerleaders followed his rhythm. Then the JV joined in and as they kept their rhythm going, they approached each other from opposite ends of the court. When they were about twenty feet away from each other, the rhythm began to change. The players started switching hands, then sped up and slowed down the dribbling. Before long, they were dribbling between their legs and behind their backs as they moved forward and back. Dennis and five of the JV moved back behind their front row. Ten cheerleaders faced ten JV players. Then they started precision drills as Dennis called out the moves.

“Cross-overs right!” he called. They’d advanced the drill so that it was no longer done around cones, but around each other as they dribbled forward past their counterparts, crossed behind them, and dribbled backward to their starting positions. They did several additional drills, including passing the ball between the two and reflecting left and right movements. All the time, Dennis and the five back players kept the constant rhythm going with their balls. “One! Two! Three! Halt!” he called. Every ball came to rest under the arm of its player or cheerleader.

It hadn’t been perfect. A few times a ball got loose or someone lost the rhythm, but it had been an effective skills demonstration.

The varsity and Angelines returned to the court and a representative of each team was sent to the foul line. Judith represented the Angelines. Drew Darnell represented the JV. Si Goodman represented the varsity. And then there was Dennis. Drew went first and sank ten of twenty free throws. Judith lined up and dropped sixteen of her twenty. Si started pumping the ball through the hoop, but somewhere along the line, lost his rhythm and ended up with fourteen of his twenty shots good. In any game, shooting 70% from the free throw line would be a great success. But Dennis stepped up to the line.

Twenty straight was all it took to have the fans all standing and stomping.

“And that is why we have a student trainer coaching all our players this year,” Mr. Dietz said from the announcer’s stand. “Now, let’s get back to basketball!”

The teams took the court again. The second half was a near repeat of the first half, but both coaches started circulating the second and third level players into the lineup. That resulted in mistakes on both teams’ part as less experienced players got badly needed experience playing against good players. Shelby Owens, who had managed the volleyball team, surprised herself and her team by sinking two shots. Janice Goodman went head-to-head with her brother and dribbled around him for a layup. And Amy sank three straight three-pointers.

At the final buzzer, the score showed the Wolverines up by three over the Angelines. It had been a great game. All the players congratulated their opponents on a great game that they’d all enjoyed immensely.

“And next Tuesday, our Angelines and Wolverine varsity will both be wearing the visitors’ burgundy as they travel to the Knights for our first game of the season. Let’s give them a cheer to send them off for a great Bartley victory!” The announcement came as people began to file out of the gym, many dropping off extra donations at the scorers’ bench.

“What the hell happened when you went up against your sister?” Bryce asked Si in the locker room. “It looked like a sure thing that you’d snatch the ball away from her and then she just dribbled around you like ... Shit! Like Dennis did against me when we did the one-on-one demo. Don’t tell me...”

“Yeah. She pulled the same move,” Si said simply. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore. That wasn’t the only thing that had happened when his sister faced off against him and made him look like a fool. “I’m gonna kill that goggle-faced puke.”

“Nice work against your brother, Janice,” Natalie said. “You handled the ball like a pro.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Well, I cheated a little,” the sophomore said.

“What? There was no cheat out there,” Amy said. “The refs would have called it. They were really on top of things.”

“I did it quietly,” Janice said. “Just before Si made his lunge for the ball, I quietly said, ‘I’ll date Dennis if I want to.’ He fell over his own feet.”