Technical
by ChipetteGirl10
After driving through the extremely retarded snowstorm, Amy wanted nothing more than for the team to at least have a good game and win. She didn't know why she had volunteered to be head coach with no one at her side as assistant. But now she was stuck coaching a team of 11- and 12- year-old chipettes playing basketball. So far it was not going well. They were playing their cross-town rivals, and she didn't know whether it was the fact that most of the girls on her team knew most of the girls on the other team, or the fact that it was the other team's home court and they had beaten their team, The Ettez, more than a few times, the Ettez having one win against the home team. The home team was called the Rolling Thunder. It wasn't that bad a name choice, seeing how they played. Amy shook her head. Her team was down, 25-20 in the fourth quarter, and there were four minutes to go. It was an agonizing wait, seeing how close the score was. She looked then to the team of chipettes on the court.
She had placed her first string starters on the court for the final four minutes, hoping they could bring the score up. Right now Chrissy and Kira were in together, due to the fact they could read each other incredibly well. Eleanor was in, given her athletic history. Serena was in, because she was a totally vicious girl when it came to basketball, besides being deemed one of the smart kids in her class, defying all dumb blonde jokes ever made. And finally, Brittany was in. Brittany, at first, was not going to be one of Amy's choice picks for a starter. It must have had something to do with Alvin – Brittany was a basketball-playing aggressive machine. She must've taken lessons from Alvin, her current boyfriend, and gone to every single one of their games and studied basketball her hardest. She had taken the ball down on a fast-break so many times, the majority of times with the ball going in. Otherwise, she was on the foul line sinking the two standard shots.
"STACK!" Brittany shouted loudly from behind the baseline. The ball had yet again been smacked out of bounds by the other team. Quickly, Brittany's team assembled into a line, tallest to shortest, starting at the elbow and moving farther back. Brittany's icy eyes looked all over the court before she slapped the ball with a tremendous amount of force, the sound reverberating off of the walls.
"BREAK!" That one word sent all of the girls on the team into their positions. Serena, at the head of the stack, moved to the block on the opposite side of Brittany, right under the basket. Chrissy came next, moving to the block right in front of Brittany. Kira was right after Chrissy. She broke off to just behind the elbow on the opposite side of the court from Brittany. Eleanor simply took a step back with her hands up, waiting expectantly for the ball. Brittany passed it to her little sister. Immediately the girl on Chrissy ran over to block Eleanor who passed it over-the-head to Chrissy. Chrissy sunk the lay-up with ease.
"PRESS!" Amy screeched from the sidelines. The Ettez on the court didn't need to be told twice. They got into their defensive positions, trying to predict where the ball would go so they would be there in time to stop the ball before it could go any further up the court. One of the girls on the other team – Janine was her name – was taking the ball out for Rolling Thunder. Eleanor looked to both sides of her and caught Janine passing it to a brunette girl on her left side. Brittany was on the left side as well; the two sisters formed a trap around the brunette-haired girl and Brittany then proceeded to rip the ball from her hands.
TWEET!
"Jump ball, purple!" the ref called. Amy grimaced. It was still in the other team's possession. But her girls knew exactly what to do – they were right back on the ball pressing once more. The bespectacled 20-year-old glanced at the clock. There were now three minutes to go, signaling only one minute had passed, but it had felt like endless hours to the young coach. Anxiety bubbled inside of her, trying to spill over. But Amy managed to keep herself cool, calm, and collected – on the outside, at least. She was screaming on the inside for her team to get the ball. She felt like ripping her hair out. The girl shook her head and continued to watch the game. Rolling Thunder had managed to get their ball past an attempted trap by Eleanor and Brittany and the tallest player was now headed in to sink a lay-up.
"BLOCK HER, NOW!" Delilah screamed from the bench. But nobody could block the tall monster as she pushed right past the obviously smaller girls on the Ettez, and she sunk her lay-up, bringing the difference between scores back up to five. Amy let out an exasperated sigh. Everyone was getting rowdy – the team, the coaches, the fans, even the refs! The girl paced back and forth as she watched Brittany take out the ball for the press-break. Serena and Chrissy were standing at the elbows, with Eleanor five feet behind Serena and Kira five feet behind Chrissy. As soon as Brittany smacked the ball, Eleanor and Kira crisscrossed at the foul-line, running their defenders into each other. Brittany made the pass to Kira and then stepped in-bounds. Kira was able to make a pass to Serena. Then Kira proceeded sprinting up the sideline. Serena attempted a pass back, but it was stolen by the other team. Amy grunted nervously as the rest of her team began to yell at their girls on the court to get back on defense and stop the girl on the other team from shooting.
"GUYS GET BACK!" Tammy shouted from her place on the bench. Brittany was the first one back down there, right in front of the girl with the ball. She placed her hands up in the air and deflected the shot. Right at the last second, Eleanor dove for the ball, cutting off a girl from the other team. There were now two minutes left in the game.
"I'M OPEN!" Chrissy shrieked from down the court. Eleanor threw the ball in the air across the court to her teammate. Chrissy caught the ball and set herself up for the shot. But right when she was about to shoot it, the tall girl from Rolling Thunder smacked Chrissy on the arm. The ball hit the rim and just missed. Chrissy gasped in pain as she glanced at her now-red arm. The smack had been quite loud, drawing attention from those in their seats on the sidelines. Everyone then proceeded to look at the ref for the consequence.
"Number 45, on the arm. On the floor," he said. Amy's blood boiled over. She had enough by then. With the worsening snowstorm outside, her team unable to stop the tall girl on the other team from sinking the lay-up and keeping the scores still five points apart, and now Chrissy was SUPPOSED to be having foul shots, instead of having Brittany take the ball out.
"HEY REF! THAT SHOULD BE A SHOOTING FOUL; SHE GOT HIT ON THE ARM! ARE YOU FREAKIN' DEAF?" the brunette coach yelled. The referee looked quite taken aback as he marched calmly up to the girl. Everyone on the bench waited with baited breath to see what he was going to do. Everyone winced when he made a sign with his fingers – a T. They had gotten a technical. Amy groaned and sat on the bench next to Jeanette and put her head in her hands with anger and regret taking over her emotions. She watched with dread as one of the girls from the other team stood on the foul line, waiting expectantly for the ball. As soon as she received it she shot; a miss. She shot again; another miss. Unfortunately the other team now gained possession of the ball. Amy's team ran back down to play defense. Eleanor played on top with Brittany and Kira were on the wings, Serena on the foul line, and Chrissy under the basket. There were thirty seconds left.
"STEAL!" Amy screamed. Eleanor immediately got on the ball hearing that one word. The girl taking the ball up cut right past her, right past Brittany, right past Serena, and right past Chrissy. She made the lay-up. Amy let out a groan, muffled due to the fact she buried her face in her hands with shame. The other team was pressing the Ettez. There were fifteen seconds left. Brittany took out the ball. As soon as she received it, Serena bolted down the court. Brittany threw it down there with full force. Serena caught it and dribbled in for a lay-up. There were five seconds left.
"SHOOT IT!" everyone on the Ettez's bench yelled. Serena set herself up. Two seconds. Serena gently tossed the ball against the backboard – it sailed through the net. The buzzer rang. The final score was 29-24, in favor of Rolling Thunder. Amy grimaced. If it hadn't been for her stupid technical they would have won.
"Watch the technicals," Brittany said as she walked by, as if reading Amy's mind. Amy smacked her forehead.