Chapter 16

CLASSES HAD NOT YET begun at WSU, so Ardith and Brenda had time for other activities. For Ardith, that included new staff orientation, getting comfortable in her new office, and reviewing the records and notes on her new team. For Brenda, it meant more time wandering around the campus, often in the company of other team members. She got registered for her classes, went through orientation, and was ready to play some serious ball on Wednesday night as the Crusaders faced the Beavers. The team was psyched to perform for their new coach.

“I’m looking forward to watching you start a whole new season of winning tonight,” Ardith said. “Spending two days with you as your coach has been a rush. Now, I’m looking forward to the future. But I have a basic philosophy that starts for all of you tonight. We aren’t thinking of anything past this game against the Beavers. We approach every game in the same way. Tonight, we are playing for the championship. Every game is a championship game. We are going to do one thing. What is that?”

There were a few answers that included ‘win’ and ‘beat ‘em’. When they’d resolved what response they’d use, Ardith asked again.

“Beat ‘em!”

“How do we do it?”

This time the women were more in sync.

“Run, run, run!”

“And who are we?”

“Crusaders!”

“Let’s get out there and show the home fans what this team is really made of.” The eleven women headed for the floor.

Their two team managers had arrived the previous day and had basketballs and score sheets organized. Ardith shook hands with the Beavers’ coach and was welcomed to the world of college coaching. Warmups were well-organized by the managers and they fed balls for shooting drills in perfect sync with the team. Ardith reminded herself to get to know the managers better since she’d be depending on them. The teams were introduced and the game started.

Gloria took the tip, but the pass from Payton to Eve was picked off by a Beaver who grabbed the lead quickly with a layup all alone. Jillian was downcourt in advance of the defenders and took a long pass from Laura. Beavers moved in quickly, though, and Jillian had to shovel the ball out to Eve. The passage inside was effectively blocked, so Eve pulled up short at the top of the key and sank a three-pointer to put the Crusaders ahead by a point.

Ardith let the starters continue for the first five minutes before she started pulling them one at a time to rest. Brenda got a shot for a minute and had an assist to Laura just before the end of the quarter. Laura’s layup put the Crusaders ahead by two at 21-19.

The women worked hard through the second quarter, and then broke loose on a thirteen-point shooting spree to end the half at 44-26. They were beginning to get the feel for working with this new system of frequent changes and constant pressure. They scored the first six in the second half before the Beavers came alive and scored six of their own. Then the Crusaders showed what life was going to be like for teams that played them from this point forward. They came alive for a twenty-four to zero scoring drive that ended the third quarter at 74-34. In the last quarter, they held the Beavers to two scores while adding twelve of their own, ending the game at 86-38.

WSU streamed its home games online and Dennis, Natalie, Amy, and Lana gathered at Lana’s house to scream themselves hoarse every time Brenda came on the court. She did well with seven points, four rebounds and three assists. She and Grace got more playing time than the other four in reserve, but everyone got plenty of time off the bench. Gloria came away with the game high of nineteen points and was declared most valuable player.

Brenda and Ardith spent their time on Thursday looking for and finding a small furnished apartment they could rent for the month, while they looked for more suitable long-term housing. They giggled when they realized there was only one bed in the apartment. The landlord didn’t ask any questions, though.

After practice Friday morning, they drove back to Bartley so they could watch the Angelines play at home on Friday night.

“Hey, ladies. Everyone taped and ready to rock the house against the Hounds?” Dennis asked when he came into the locker room.

“Yeah!” The team had worked hard Wednesday and Thursday. Friday night’s game was all they thought about.

“You’ve all done really well adjusting to Coach Ardith being gone. You make me proud every time you walk on the court. I haven’t mentioned this before, but do you know why Coach Ardith felt she could leave the team in the middle of the season? She felt confident that we could do this without her. Not just in me. In each and every one of you. Are you confident?”

“Yes!”

“Good. Because tonight you get to show her she didn’t make a mistake. She’s in the stands tonight,” Dennis said. “And Brenda is sitting right beside her. They’ve come to see the Angelines play serious ball. They’ve come to see full court presses, rebounds, three-pointers, steals, assists, and perfect free throws. And this is just the team who can show them.”

There were cheers from among the girls. Standing off to the side, Josie Kelly was amazed at how much the team respected this seventeen-year-old as their coach. They’d do anything for him. And the way she understood it, a few of them did do anything for him. But they never let on in school. She’d heard rumors of the way they behaved in previous years, but Dennis never entered the locker room until everyone was dressed and ready for the game.

“So what are we going to do?” Dennis yelled.

“Beat ‘em!”

“How are we going to do it?”

“Run, run, run!”

“Who are we?”

“Angelines.”

“Managers, lead them out!”

Debbie and Lana opened the door and led the charge out onto the gym floor. In a few seconds, the girls were in their formation and following the warmups led by the team managers. Dennis was very proud of how the team managers had taken over these responsibilities from him as he picked up more coaching responsibility this season. The exercise broke and Lana moved to the rack of balls to pass them to the players. Soon the uniform beat of the dribbling caught everyone’s attention as they went through their precision dribbling and passing drill. Then, right on cue, they broke into two lines and started the shooting drill from the three-point line. It was perfectly executed.

The opposing team, the Hounds, were standing at their end of the court, mesmerized. If Josie had to guess, they were already defeated. Natalie and Diane ending the practice session by dunking the ball put a nail in their coffin.

Diane easily controlled the tip and the game was in the hands of the Angelines from that point on. Most of the game was played at their end of the court. The Hounds just couldn’t get it past the press or the zone defense. The Angelines dropped point after point into the basket. Natalie ended the game with twenty-one points and Janice contributed eighteen—most from under the basket on rebounds.

The Hounds had to be proud of having scored at all. They got one basket in the first quarter and one in the fourth quarter. The final score was 75-4. Every member of the Angelines had played and scored.

“You sure showed me I wasn’t needed!” Ardith said as the team gathered around her and every member hugged her.

“We miss you, but we’re not going to let up just because you aren’t here!” Rosie said. “We’re Angelines.”

“I hope you all know how hard a decision this was for me. But that team at Salter needs me. They’re good but they haven’t had any direction from the sidelines this season. We’re now eight and six and I don’t expect to lose another game,” Ardith said.

“We watched the stream Wednesday night,” Dennis said. “You were all awesome.”

“I made my Division III debut!” Brenda said. “And I scored!” She looked around and dropped her voice when she thought no one but Dennis and Amy could hear her. “Both during and after the game.”

“Brat!” Amy said. “You could score tonight, too.”

“Well, get showered and fresh, then,” Brenda said. The team headed for the showers in the company of the team managers and Josie. Dennis hung around with Ardith and Brenda.

“We still can’t do anything until after you’ve graduated,” Ardith said to Dennis. “But I’ll have solid offers for you and Natalie and Amy before the end of the season. I need to interview Lana and find out what she wants to study. I wasn’t counting on all four of you next year so I didn’t pay attention to what Lana and Amy wanted to study.”

“I still can’t believe you did this for us,” Dennis said, shaking his head. “I can hardly wait to thank you in a more personal way.”

“The feeling’s mutual. And thanks for lending Brenda. We’re going to be shopping for a decent place for all of us to live. I’m sure we’ll find something before summer.”

With four of their previous players having moved, graduated, or transferred, the DMACC Bears started struggling. A new freshman arrived on the scene and proved to be even hotter than Brenda had been from the floor. But even with twenty-four points in their Saturday game against the Spartans, the team fell 71-60. Dennis went to see Coach Dearborn Monday morning.

“Oh, I anticipated some changes and struggles after the first of the year. It happens every year. It’s the curse of a junior college. A lot of women come here hoping to get picked up mid-season,” Coach Dearborn said as they talked. “That new girl I’ve got, Amanda Peterson, has a lot of potential, but she won’t share the ball. It’s true she scored twenty-four points Saturday, but she only hit a third of what she threw. She has no confidence in what the others can do. She’ll learn, but it will take a game or two before she gets settled in.”

“I’m thankful I’ve got a team that all trusts each other. And me,” Dennis said. “I’d be in a pickle if they didn’t.”

“Tell me about what’s going on.”

“Well, our coach took a job mid-term at Salter University. I’m afraid she’s the one who recruited Brenda to join her there,” Dennis said.

“I don’t blame her for that. The move will be good for Brenda. She’ll need to learn to blend in with a team of women who already know what they are doing. Almost like our Amanda.”

“They’re good, all right,” Dennis agreed.

“So, that leaves you in charge of the Bartley team?” Dearborn asked.

“Yeah. Surprised me, but they didn’t have anyone else ready to take it on. And the girls are 11-0 for the season so far. I don’t want to screw it up. One of the coaches’ wives is assisting, but that’s more to have a female chaperone for the girls’ team.”