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“Sorry,” Shay replied.
“Get your head in the game, Amos!” Coach yelled.
Shay tapped her chest, indicating that the turnover had been her fault. She got back on defense and watched them take a shot and miss. Hilton got the rebound and passed it out to Shay. Shay pushed it up the court and found Layne on the wing. She passed it to her and watched Layne take an open three. She made it. They were only down by seven now.
“Nice shot,” Shay said.
“Thanks,” Layne replied with no enthusiasm.
The half-time buzzer sounded, and they headed to the locker room.
“Ledger’s out,” Coach announced once they were all inside. “Questionable to return. We’re getting X-rays on her shoulder right now. She says she’s okay, but she took a big hit on the floor, so we’re checking it out first. Layne, you’re starting the second half. You okay?”
“Yes, Coach,” Layne replied.
Shay watched as Layne turned away from everyone, and she saw her use her inhaler. Layne was not okay, but she was trying to push through to help them win this game because that was who Layne was. It was never about her; it was always about everyone else, and Shay loved that about her. She wished Layne would put herself first at least once in a while, though.
Coach walked them through their adjustments. Shay laced her shoes up a little tighter. Layne sat off to the side, leaning against a wall, and Shay wanted to walk over to her, put her hand on the back of Layne’s neck, and gently massage her there, silently telling Layne that she was there, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t because Layne wasn’t hers anymore, but also because of a fucking pandemic that had already ruined so much.
In the third quarter, every time Dunbar scored, they couldn’t stop the other team on defense, so they weren’t making a dent in their deficit. Shay took a seat for a few minutes while Layne ran point, but she looked like she was struggling to keep up with the fast pace. When Shay went back into the game, Layne finally got a much-needed rest. The first thing Shay hoped for was that Layne would stay on the bench and catch her breath; that she’d focus on recovery and not come back on the court. The second thing she thought, though, was that they needed Layne to win. Shay had fifteen points, but Layne had nine and was their second-highest scorer tonight. She’d also gotten three steals and caused another turnover due to her tight defense.
Two time-outs and only five points down later, Shay shot a three but missed. Hilton rebounded and put it back up for a two instead, which helped get the deficit down to three. There was a minute left in the game, and Dunbar had a foul to give. That meant they could play tough defense and, hopefully, cause a miss, get the ball back, take a quick two, and still have a chance to get another possession. The buzzer sounded again, and Layne came back out on the court for Roy, who took a seat.
“Coach wants me to inbound when we get it. We’re going to run four.”
“Okay,” Shay replied. “Hands up, everyone,” she instructed her team.
The Dunbar players put their hands up on defense, and Layne pressed into the player she was guarding as tightly as she could. Shay watched her just for a split second. Layne’s eyes went from the ball to the player’s other hand, back to the ball, and then to a spot on the court. By the time Shay was looking at her own player out of the corner of her eye again, Layne had smacked the ball away, and it was hitting that spot on the court. Shay reached for it, grabbed it, and threw it ahead to Hilton, who was sprinting to the other basket. Hilton caught it and made the layup. They were down by one.
The other team called a time-out. Dunbar went over their defensive strategy in their huddle and the play they’d run when they got the ball back. Then, they were all back on the court. Shay pressed tightly, and so did everyone else, but the other team made it up the court. Shay had to foul. That was only her fourth, so she wasn’t out of the game yet, and the other team didn’t get any free throws from it, so they were still okay.
When their opponent inbounded, though, somehow, their best shooting guard got open and, instead of holding the ball and trying to get Dunbar to foul again, she shot a three. As the ball flew toward the basket, Shay thought that had been a rookie mistake. They should’ve held on to the ball, earned a foul, taken their free throws, and held on defense, but they’d gone for a shot instead.
Then, that shot went in. Dunbar was down by four, with only sixteen seconds left. They were also out of time-outs. Layne took her spot under the basket to run their play just for this situation. Shay took it quickly up the court, got it to Hilton, who missed a shot, rebounded, shot again, missed again, and the other team rebounded. That was it. It was over. Dunbar had lost.
Shay knelt on the court around the free-throw line and tried to think of anything other than the disappointment of this loss. Sweat dripped down her face. She’d tried so hard. She’d given it everything she had, and they’d still lost. Now, it would take getting selected by the committee for them to even be in the tournament. They’d lost their automatic bid.
Hilton was sitting on the floor under the basket. Roy had her hands on her head, walking around aimlessly. Shay looked over at the bench and saw them all looking dejected and confused because they’d expected Dunbar to win this. Everyone had expected that. They’d been the better team all season, but tonight hadn’t been Dunbar’s night.
“Hey,” Layne spoke and knelt down on the court in front of Shay. “You left it all out here, right?”
Shay didn’t have words, but she nodded.
“Then, okay. Everyone on the team left it all out here. That’s something.” Layne sighed. “We need to go congratulate them.”
“Yeah,” Shay said softly.
“Nineteen points, Shay. Six rebounds. Nine assists. Three steals. You did everything you could do and more.”
“We lost.”
“Not for the game tonight,” Layne replied and stood. “For the draft. If this is it, you did everything you could.”
Shay waited for Layne to hold out her hand to help Shay up, but Layne just looked down at her, reached out for a second, seemed to realize what she’d been about to do, and took her hand away. When Shay then stood on her own, she felt her wobbly legs almost give out under her, but not from the game; because Layne couldn’t even take her hand, and Shay had been the one to do that to them.
CHAPTER 30
Layne sat in her room, trying to figure out what to do. She’d heard back about the internship the day before, but the news was still something she hadn’t quite been able to process.
