Basketball Marathon

Four times this season we will play back t0 back t0 back basketball games. Tonight was the first of those marathons. And none of it was pretty.

Middle school boys trailed the entire game, losing by 7. Nathan played well, scoring 5 points.

Varsity boys came out flat and trailed by nearly 25 points at the half. Second half was better, but by then the hole was too deep. Aaron tied for second leading scorer (again!) with 6 points. He also took 1 charge (and should have had 1 or 2 others called!). 

But the varsity girls played the heartbreaker game. They came out looking great, having added a couple of junior and senior girls who agreed to fill in (although one may stay) while Elizabeth was hurt and another player out of town. At one point we actually had four experienced seniors on the floor! Yes, Elizabeth was out there. No, she wasn't released to play yet. But have you ever known Elizabeth to be stopped by telling her "you can't"?

Anyway, they played great. They hustled. They scored. (Elizabeth had 4 points and 3 or 4 steals.) They led the entire game. Until the last 40 seconds. Actually, the last 2 minutes were a nightmare. I think they called 10 fouls on us and none on them. We literally couldn't get the ball back! With 40 seconds left to play, the other team went up 29-28 on free throws. We went down and couldn't score. They brought the ball up again. With just seconds left, Elizabeth fouled, as she should. When she did, the girl threw the ball at her and the ref T'd up the other girl. Then there was a huge delay as the refs discussed, because, of course, time had now expired. Finally, they gave the other girl 2 shots (double bonus) for Elizabeth's foul, then said Elizabeth would get 2 shots for the Technical foul. The other girl missed both of hers. Then Elizabeth shot--and missed both of hers. It was awful. She is usually such a good free throw shooter. Of course, she hasn't shot in the four weeks she's had her cast on. 

But the story ends on an up note. We were so proud of the way Elizabeth handled herself. After missing the shots, she was the first one across the court to shake hands with the other team. And afterward, she wasn't mean and nasty to us. She could smile and laugh and accept compliments on her play. So while she hated losing the game, she won in the arena of character. And that's what matters in the long run.