Personal Narrative: An Open Layup

Lizzie always gets those layups and fouls, likewise she drives in for a layup just like any other situation. Next thing you know, I find Lizzie's head pinned to the ground, and blood just starts rolling out from her knee. In the meantime, Lexi and I go lie on the ground with Lizzie. I was so close to her, I could hear her heartbeat inside going 100mph while she took deep breaths from her lungs waiting for coach to come over and see if she was alright.
Lexi gasped after I asked Lizzie if she’s okay, “Please don’t cry. What hurts?”
Lizzie is number one in states, therefore she doesn’t cry easily so Lexi and I knew this was awful when we saw her wipe both tears and sweat off her face.
Dominique announced, “We’re down to five ultimate players to play try hard for
the next 17 minutes.” She just makes me cringe inside, knowing she actually counted how many minutes we have left to prove to Aurora that we’re the champs. Instead of helping Lizzie, she just wants to keep playing probably so she can say rude comments to other people, I began to comprehend.
With a tie of 30-30, Dominique and Lexi are the pointguard. Bobo is about half way between the baseline and foul line with her hands wide open calling for the ball when she's open. At the same time Lexi and Dominique are at the top passing accurate passes to each other, since Aurora is playing tough defense on the Knights. It is crucial for Faith and I to get open in order to get a calm, smooth shot up in the last seconds we have. Our job is to sprint with all our might, and turn around wide open for a shot when we feel the defensive player give up. The more you run and move around, the more Aurora will get exhausted and confused. I know this because when I guard players, I like to catch my breath while they stand there in the corner of the court versus chasing after girls with the ball within them.
Just in time, Coach calls a timeout with 15 seconds left. Coach Steve holds all of our hands together and says a prayer that we will be champions. Steve told us that we’ve beaten more flexible teams than Aurora, so we are capable. He gave us confidence by holding us together as a team and reminding us of how many plays we could imply from practice.. He said slow and steady wins the race , so that's when I tuned out and remembered something…
“LYNDSEY SPIN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, AND COME IN THE BOX FOR A WIDE OPEN SHOT!” Coach from Cleveland basketball points out and shows me on the clipboard.
I run into the box, get a wide open layup and add to the score even though we were killing the opponent.
But then I get back to reality, the ball is in our possession..… I have so much grit and dedication to just win every single obstacle I come across in my life. The thoughts going through my head were going 100 miles per hour. So then, I concluded I have that spin move. I can spin move, call the ball and get a easy bucket just like I had done during the summer. I figured it’s the easiest thing possible since Aurora is playing tight defense. Anytime the Knights have the ball, they scream “BALL BALL BALL” which is supposed to distract us, but it made me play tougher since i'm not letting them get the ball. Therefore, this spin move will make the Nordonia Knights fans embrace themselves and yell louder than Aurora “BALL BALL BALL” I thought.
I promised randomly to Coach Steve trying to cool him down, “Okay coach, I’m saving the team right now. Watch me.” “Wait what are you doing?” he questioned, but I winked and jogged onto that court to play the game I
love. Coach Steve was probably confused because he was showing the team a play while I remembered how much skill I learned from Cleveland Basketball School. The intensity of this game is nothing anyone imagined. My body is completely weak from sprinting, diving for the ball and shuffling on defense. Buckets of sweat were pouring down my face like a waterfall, so if i open my mouth I could taste the salty warm sweat on my taste buds. My jersey is soaked to where I am able to smell my own body odor as I awaited for the game to be over. My bones inside just want to give up, they’re so sore from pushing. I’ve drank minimum to no water this entire time so my tongue is beyond dry, it hurts to swallow. I hadn’t ate anything since around lunch time so i'm starving. Even though i'm not in the best situation, I have to make sacrifices, so that's when I got hyped and finished out the game I fell in love with..
To the right, the ball comes inbounds, and with 10 seconds left I performed a spin move and became wide open.
I screamed with all my life, “DOMINIQUE EVANS I AM WIDE OPEN!”
Spin moves don’t always work, but since Aurora was playing close defense, it was effortless to accomplish. I pounded the ball one time with complete control, all ten of my fingers touching the basketball to make sure no one swat at it. Next, I brought intensity to my upper body, and go up for a layup and made it. I felt like I almost dunked it, because of how high I reached for that square. There’s a square on the basketball hoop, that I hit every time to make layups like Kyrie on the Cavs.
As a result, the crowd rawred as I screamed. I go up to Dominique since she said I’d cause the team to lose and I teased, “or were going to win this game because of my winning shot.”
It was the greatest victory out there that i’ve ever been able to pull off. Imagine what the next games will be like with the confidence I built up today, I began to think. Ever since this morning, I have had those feelings that we’d lose but now I feel like I can accomplish anything. I’ve learned my lesson to just get some confidence in my head because obviously that works. Goodness. Suddenly it clicked, Dominique is a true friend. A true friend tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Dominique had confidence in me, and knew I had a chance to be marvelous. The rude comments that came out of her mouth made me upset and I started to lose self confidence, but in the end I think she was just trying to make me a stronger player. Besides, everything happens for a reason.
Never knew confidence was that important. “I can’t wait for next game, to show how I truly play after getting my emotions in check” I thought as I say good game to each girl on the Aurora team.