|PARALLELS| ✔

27| |Semi-Finals

"To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with."

—Mark Twain

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Basketball semi-finals!

We had been dominating the tournament - Wimberly College had kept its title throughout the other games and our end goal was to keep the championship home.

The toughest team was yet to come: St Benares University. We've had a rivalry even before I transferred to this college. Our captain –Julie Natter– ran down previous plays they had with them over the course of the year, and from what I've picked up from teammates, stand-byers and even the coach: is that they don't usually play by the right hand.

Dirty plays, intrusive tactics; those were St Benares' motto: Whatever it takes; at all costs, Win!

St Benares were known for their mendacious tactics — their university had rewarded the pre-set referees with monetary benefits, aiming to pursue them and help them get the championship. Little did they know that the referees reported their charitable works to the guys in charge, and were banned for an entire season plus, there were mandatory rules they had to follow in order to be accepted back into the games next season.

By the looks of things, I'd say they followed the rules to the T as they were sitting with the crowd, analyzing and criticizing our plays for the next game.

Our current opponents were The Ohio Sharks, trailing behind by 10 points. Their captain was making sloppy shots, haphazardly throwing the ball only for it to rebound on the rim or even miss completely.
She kept nursing her right shoulder, rolling it multiple times on repeat.
She had to be injured. No wonder the hesitation she'd have when the ball was thrown to her, the uncertainty in her eyes was practically dripping down, alongside the sweat that had coated her team jersey.

The She-devil —Kathy—took that as an opportunity to destroy their team completely.

Being passed the ball by our team captain, she bounced the ball around the court whilst keeping a steady pace. The other teams' defense tried stealing the ball from her but she was just too quick on her feet. Standing behind the three-pointer line, she aimed the ball towards the hoop.

Soaring through the humid covered air, the ball sank into the hoop with a 'swoosh', eliciting cheers and chants on our side of the court.

The second-quarter scoreboard read 103-90. The Ohio sharks' coach requested a time out resulting the game to come to an abrupt halt.

The fuming face of their coach was undeniably scorned, shooting death glares to every single one of his players, their captain voiced out something but due to the commotion in the arena I couldn't pick up what she said, but whatever she said put the coach on edge. Massaging his temple, he took out his clipboard, sitting down on the provided wooden bench he hurdled the team even closer, shoulders and knees touching.

Our own coach had a few tactics up his sleeve.
"Okay team, we've come this far but, I can't help but notice that some of you are way above and beyond with your heads," he focused his eyes on Kathy then proceeded, "this is a team effort, meaning you play like a team. If you're going to hog the ball and not pass it over to your mates then what's the point of having other members on the court, busting their asses only for one person to act greedy!"