Tough Pill to Swallow

Final score: 16 to 17.  

With 2:45 left in the game... up 16 to 15... I made the one speech I prepared all season, "They may out-dribble us.  They may out-rebound us.  They may even out-shoot us.  But they will NEVER, EVER, out run us.  The 17's... the liners... that's what we've trained for.  Now let's go get them!!" But at this level... basketball is a game of height.  They were simply too tall for us.  Not sure what the final numbers are... but I'm sure they outrebounded us 2:1.   And with their height... they were finally able to throw one up that hit the bottom of the net.  

I'm kicking myself.  I got out-coached.  I was inexperienced.

Last night... I was watching some game footage and thinking, "What if they run a full-court press??"  Then I shook that off and didn't think of a play to counter it.  And that's exactly what they did.  They nullified us in the last 3 minutes of each half.   

Odds were stacked against us.  My starting guard injured herself last week and wasn't able to play.  My "6th man" had a dentist appointment that she couldn't swap.  My 11th player injured her finger... not that it hurts us too much, but we could've needed the legs to sub in tired bodies. 

Throughout the week... I thought about running a play called "Snorlax" where we would rain down threes and whatever goes, goes.  But when it came down to the final two seconds... we were down by one and had the inbound... I couldn't think of what to do and just went with boring old Box-2, crowding the key.  

We practiced this exact scenario yesterday - pivot and shoot.  

We practiced this during warm-ups.

And I choked. I choked. My bad.  Myyyyyyy.... baaaaaaad.

Kicking myself... why didn't I draw up a new play???  Why didn't I call timeout again after seeing them set up their defense???  I could've opened up the court to at least get the pass in and launch hail mary. You can't win... if you don't score.  You don't score... if you don't shoot.  Basketball 101.  

I failed... I failed as a coach.  That was on me... to draw up the final play of a game, like in the movies, so a girl can hit the game winning shot and we walk off like champions. But today... we walk off having won zero games this season.  

There were some bright spots though.... 

I purposely named the starting 5, five players that never started.  All of our games, we always go with our "First Five" - aka the five best players.  But when I named the starting 5 being the "Second Five", they got so excited and so nervous.  What made it better.... our "First Five" clapped and was so happy for them.  

I got them to wipe their soles with their hands.  When I told them to do it during warmups... I got a lot of tweenage comments and complaints.  But halfway through the game... when NN slipped and fell and we called a timeout... first thing I said, "Clean your shoes!" and they all did it without questioning. 

There is a player who is soooo stoic.. soooo insouciant... sooo lethargic... you almost wonder if you is even awake.  Turns out... she really, really didn't want to be there today.  Every time NN passed her the ball... the ball goes right back to NN.  I pulled her due to her apathy.  But I had to put her in cuz we were running on fumes.  And in the 4th quarter... she came alive.  Her hands were flailing wildly.  She was sprinting up and down the court.  She had that look in her eye.  Today... we transformed a life.

And finally... NN.  All season long... she's been wanting to have a fast break and hit a lay-up.  There were several chances today... and after 8 long weeks... she finally did it.  She said she wanted to cry when that happened.  

Blood.  Sweat.  Tears.  That's how we came together.  That's why we stay together.

This is a gonna be a tough pill to swallow for me.... just cuz it came so close.