overtime | clark & martin

twelve.

2014
Under Armor Invitational
Nashville, Tennessee

Caitlin sat with her teammates following their first win of the day and their third win of the tournament. They were coasting through pretty easily and Caitlin had no doubt that they were going to win the tournament and impress a few of the coaches that were gathered there.

"Guys you need to come to court three right now," one of her teammates tells them.

"Why is there a fight?" Someone else asks.

"No there's this team from North Carolina and they're like demolishing this other team," her teammate says.

While they preferred to watch close games at these tournaments if there was a blowout, that typically meant that one of the players on the team was insanely good and just might be a legend someday.

Caitlin followed her teammates over to court three where the score was greatly skewed. The team that was ahead was the Carolina Flames. Caitlin had never heard of the team before, but there were a lot of teams that she was unfamiliar with, that didn't mean they didn't have any good players.

The Flames were in possession of the ball, and they inbounded it to a guard. She was around Caitlin's height, and she had long curly hair that was tied back into a ponytail and the ponytail itself was braided. She dribbled the ball up the court, her eyes surveying it. Her defender was guarding her as closely as possible, which meant she was likely a shooter.

She turns her back to her defender and waves on of her teammates over. Her teammate runs by, and they hand off the ball. The girl slips by her defender and loses her in the traffic. She pops out on the three-point line and her teammate passes it to her. Another defender closes out and rather than take the shot, she dribbles to the paint where she shoots the layup and is fouled hard. The shot falls in and the basket is good, making it a three-point play.

"Come on!" the girl screams, and her teammates laugh as they help her off the floor. She smiles as she stands and makes her way over to the free throw line. She wipes her hands on her shorts and fixes her braid before she's given the ball, which she dribbles once before shooting the free throw and it sinks through the net seamlessly.

The Flames get back on defense and the girl is guarding the point guard, who looked scared to have the star in front of her. She passes the ball, wanting to get rid of it as quickly as possible but the star's arm gets it. She catches the ball and dribbles down court with a speed that's unmatched. One of the players from the other team beats her to the basket so rather than drive in for a layup she takes a step back and shoots a three which falls through the net perfectly.

The other team calls a timeout and the teams on the court gather at their respective benches.

"She's amazing," one of Caitlin's teammates says.

"I've never seen anyone play like that."

"Apparently her name is Jessica Williams," someone says, "She's going into high school next year."

"I bet she already has an offer from UCONN," someone else says.

"Or Notre Dame or Baylor or Stanford or South Carolina."

Caitlin doesn't say anything as she watches Jessica. Her teammates seemed to be laughing and joking about how ahead they were, but she seemed so locked in.

The whistle blows at the end of the timeout and Jessica takes the court, her eyes focused on the girl bringing the ball up. She quickly passes the ball to one of her teammates and cuts away from the basketball. Jessica sticks with her. Another girl on the opposing team drives to the basket and Jessica helps over and blocks the girls shot, sending it into the hands of her teammate as they take off toward the opposite side of the court.