Basketbrawl

I need a shower. I feel dirty after just watching that game. It was another ugly affair today at Upward basketball. Drew's Pacers took on the Spurs in a hard fought battle. We only had a roster of six for the game which meant that each player had to sit for only one period. (Two 18 minute halves with two breaks for substitutions). Drew ended the game on the bench with 4 points, @4 rebounds, and no visible scars. The popular assessment was that the fault lay with the officials. Both teams were playing illegal zone defense, both were committing hard reaching fouls, and both were acting like it was a rugby match. It was out of control. At least two of the Spurs had to leave with floor burns. The game started with one referee and ended with two because we had to call in reinforcements. One parent went out to talk to Upward officials between periods. Our big man, Luke, had a hard face plant after being tripped (accidentally) on a drive to the basket. I do have good news though. I just saved a bunch of money on my insurance...no, wait. I mean, the good news is that the boys on both teams never lost their tempers while they were being tossed around. They just kept playing. About our play - if scouts for the Pacers remaining games are reading this, run the pick-and-roll. We can't defend it. The Spurs must have scored 20 points blowing by us on high screens and then taking the open court right to the hoop. We ended the first half with a deficit of 8 points. Our set plays never really seemed to be very effective, possibly because they always go right. Our coach made the appropriate adjustments at halftime, and we were able to claw our way back into contention after the break. I had to get involved after one play because the call on the floor was a traveling violation, but the player continued to the basket and made the shot. It obviously didn't count, but the "official" scorer awarded the points anyway. I had to go over and get that corrected. It turns out that it was a good thing I did that, because the final point differential was only a single point. In our favor, luckily. We pulled out a difficult victory 34-33, fighting until the last. I told you holding on to first place would be tough.
Rachel's game had nowhere near that kind of drama. The highlight of her game was that she was playing against her friend Rachel. Rachel had to guard Rachel for two periods of the game, which naturally means that Rachel had to guard Rachel too. Rachel's mom, Heather, is one of Dawn's best friends so they were sitting next to each other while they "watched" the game. Confusion came easily as we cheered and coached our daughters loudly. My favorite part of Rachel's games is watching her teammate Kara as she skips around the court. Poor Kara is about a head shorter than most of the other girls in the league, so she gets overpowered a lot. They can't dampen her spirits, though! Our Rachel continues to show improvement every week. She brought the ball up the court three times, and she has obviously been working on her dribble. Some pregame parental encouragement to be more assertive resulted in some aggressive play. She took 4 shots in the game, and she tied her career high with 2 points, which boosts her per game average to a full point. The Lady Spartans remain undefeated by beating the Lady Gators by a final of 26-38.