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“Hey, Coach wants me on point,” she said when she got onto the court.
“You?” Shay asked.
“Yeah,” Layne replied.
Shay looked over at their coach. Layne followed her, and Coach nodded.
“Fine. Whatever,” Shay said.
Layne brought the ball up the court, checked with Coach for the play, called it, and ran it. They didn’t score, but they ran it well, and it ended with a missed shot by Michaels and a rebound by the other team. It took her until after halftime to really find her groove, but Layne had scored eight, and Shay had hit a three. When the fourth quarter started, Shay was back at point, and Layne was on the bench, getting some rest. Lisa was in, and she scored a couple, so Layne figured Coach would just keep her in since she seemed to have the hot hand. They were only down by six, but there were only four minutes left in the game, which meant they had to score and keep the other team from adding to their lead.
“Stoll, you’re going back at point. Run five and have Shay run the baseline. Use her speed. Get her the ball behind the line,” Coach ordered as she knelt in front of her, lightly smacked Layne’s knees, and stood.
Layne ran to the score table, checked back in for Lisa, and told Shay the plan. Shay still wasn’t playing like herself, but she’d gotten better as the night had gone on, and she didn’t argue when Layne told her that she was running point likely for the rest of the game. Layne pushed the ball up the court, called the play, and waited for Shay to hit her spot. She passed her the ball and watched Shay’s three-pointer go in. They were down by three. Now, they had to hold the other team.
“Take Fourteen,” Shay said. “I’ve got Thirty.”
Layne obeyed her captain, and they switched players to guard. Somehow, Shay must have known they were about to pick and roll because when Thirty, whom Layne had been guarding, set the pick for Fourteen, Thirty ended up being matched back with Layne, and Shay took Fourteen again, which was what Shay had wanted. It meant they didn’t have to switch now, and it gave Shay that extra step on Number Fourteen. When Fourteen went to pass, Shay got ahold of the ball. Layne took off running. Shay’s pass was a little behind her, but she slowed enough to get it and made the layup.
They were down by one. They could do this. She felt it now. As she turned, though, her shoe, which, apparently, had come untied, slipped almost off her foot, and her ankle went to the side. Layne felt the sting of it immediately and reached down to tie her shoes. She didn’t think it was bad or anything; she doubted it would even swell, but the buzzer sounded, and she saw Lisa walking toward her. Layne took her seat at the end of the bench, and the trainer approached.
“I just rolled it. It’s fine,” she said.
“Let me just check, and we’ll see if you’re right,” he said and removed her shoe.
Layne looked up and watched the game, wishing she was out there playing with her team.
“Does this hurt?” the trainer asked, and she realized he had her sock off and was still checking her ankle.
“No,” she said.
“Okay. Let’s get you back out there, then,” he replied before he sprayed bio-ice freeze on her foot, which she hadn’t been prepared for.
“Jesus!”
“Sorry. Just to make sure it doesn’t hurt. I don’t think anything’s structurally wrong, but we can check after the game.”
“Sure.”
Layne put her sock and shoe back on and walked back and forth, jumping a few inches off the ground to check the feel of her ankle.
The trainer gave Coach a thumbs-up, and Coach nodded for her to check back in. Layne jogged to the table, checked in, and waited for the next buzzer, which came when Jameson fouled someone on the shot, and there would be two free throws for the other team. Layne moved to half-court, where Shay was standing, and told her that she was running point again. Shay nodded but didn’t say anything.
With only twenty seconds left on the clock, they were down by one. Layne got the ball to Shay, who took a three, even though the play they’d been running was meant to give Hilton the ball for the two. Shay missed. Hilton rebounded and passed it out to Layne. Layne looked at Shay, who was ready to get the ball back, but instead of passing it to her, she pushed in a little, pivoted, passed to Jameson, and rolled around her own defender until Jameson saw she was open. Layne took the jumper and watched it go off the backboard and into the basket. They were up by one.
Layne checked the clock. Seven seconds. The other team had a time-out, but they didn’t take it because they wanted to get the ball up past half-court and then use it. Dunbar pressed but didn’t want to foul and give away a free throw, so when the other team made it over the half-court line and took the time-out with only three seconds left, Layne breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t made a mistake in the fast fury of the other team taking the ball up the court.
“Hey, why didn’t you pass it to me?” Shay asked as they walked over to the bench.
“What?”
“I was open. They left me wide open for a three.”
“Oh, we only needed a two.”
“But I was open. We could’ve been up by two right now.”
“I saw the floor differently, Shay,” she replied. “Sorry.”
