BETHANY COMES ALIVE....

Bethany's Bruins team (and Coach Todd's) ended the season in 6th place out of 8 teams. I know, it doesn't sound so good but we were a much better team than the numbers show. At least 3 of our losses were by a basket or less so those were hard fought losses that could have gone either way. I don't mind a one point loss when we had no momentum but crept our way up somehow. But I hate the 1 point losses when we were the better team all the way through the game only to have a string of uneven calls by the refs and no time to make those up or a girl gets a lucky shot. Those are tough and discouraging to the girls who really deserved the wins. But these are life lessons. It isn't always fair and they are learning it as well. And our girls overwhelmed some serious talent. It was no secret that certain teams got major players. Some of us got one or two good players while a few of the teams got semi-pro players- really you have to see these girls play. Some of them have been playing since they were 5 in year round basketball leagues! So as hard as it was to be a team mom listening to our parents complain about the unfair match-ups, I have to say, by the grace of God (and yes, HE gets the glory because we pray before each game and thank Him -win or lose), our team did MUCH better than most thought. And we're not done yet.
So on that note, we just completed our first round of playoffs and Bethany was the high scorer! Yeah! Not to mention her rebounds and blocked shots. She scored 10 points, which was half of the team's points. (Hey it is not the WNBA here...most of the top teams score in the 20 range). But Beth also shut down the other team's best player with her defense. Every time this girl came for her usual shot, Bethany blocked it and took her out of her game. This girl normally scored all the teams points and did score a lot (most of which happened while Bethany was on the bench) but not enough! The other team was ahead by 2 points with about 2 minutes to play and Bethany scored the basket for the tie! Then she blocked their star player and they went into overtime! Then our point guard shot a basket as Bethany continued to block all their shots. So WE won the game in overtime 20-18. It was fun to watch Bethany let loose and play the way we knew she could play. She always did well defensively but her nerves usually got the better of her in the area of shooting. Not this time!
It was a good time to come alive too because the point guard had a bad night (1 basket). Coach Todd got a lot of pats on the back that night from the other team and the parents. More parents from the other team came up to congratulate him than on ours I think. It was strange to watch the other teams top players guard Bethany as the biggest threat. She has been so timid for too long. It was fun to see her "guard" come down.
Now Saturday was not as fun. We played the 2nd place team for playoff game #2. We were the first team to knock them off their #1 spot a couple of weeks ago. And it looked like we were going to do it again. We were up by 7 points in the 4th period (there are 5 periods in this league) but since all the girls HAD to play 3 periods, Bethany and one of our point guards had to sit out. That is when our team just crumbled without a good shooter and a good defender and the other team scored 12 points on us! Our other point guard just had a bad day and the other girls followed her lead. The refs let them hack us all over the place which didn't help and set the tone for that period. So by the time Bethany and Simone (the other point guard) came back in the final period, we had some ground to make up. And between Bethany's blocking and rebounding and Simone's shooting, we came within one point! The momentum was on our side but time was not! So we lost by 1 point. Still a great game. We have one more chance Wednesday. If we win, we continue on. If we lose, we are out. But it was a great season. Bethany really stepped up her game and her confidence. And Todd is a great coach. Till next week, or next year! (Look out, Hannah will be playing then!)