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Stay on Target
First game of the season. The Sirens were up by nine but Coach Warren wasn’t smiling.
“Castle Drop worked because they kept driving into the paint,” she said. “They wanted to bully their way in. We let them run into the wall. That’s done. They’re not going to keep doing it.”
Olivia still couldn’t hear “Castle Drop” without picturing an actual castle, but the seniors never blinked at the names, so neither did she.
“Boar Lure got us six points in the second quarter. They bit every time. Their coach is going to fix that.”
“The guy’s been screaming at the ref all half,” Victoria said.
“And when he’s done yelling, he’s going to tell his team to stop chasing. Which means we need to be ready when the lure stops working.”
She tapped the board. Two circles at the top of the key.
“If they stop biting on the Boar Lure, we go Twin Cast Blitz. Victoria, Olivia. You two have been running this for two months. When they pack the paint and sit back, that’s your cue. Don’t wait for me to call it.”
Olivia nodded, fast. She’d been nodding fast all night.
“Jasmine. You’re getting their center in foul trouble. She’s bigger than you. She’s also impatient. Use that. Tower Rush only works if you move before she sets up, so stay ahead of her.”
“She elbowed me in the first quarter.”
“Did the ref call it?”
“No.”
“Then she’s going to do it again. Stay on target.”
Olivia had heard that probably a hundred times since preseason. Stay on target. Like it was that easy. Like deciding to not care about the girl who elbowed you was just something you did.
Victoria ran the Boar Lure first chance they got. Fake the drive, pull back, hit the open player. Worked every time in the first half.
The girl guarding her stood there and watched.
She kicked it out. “They’re not biting.”
Olivia nodded and cut right. Victoria cut left. Two Falcons crashed into each other, Olivia finished at the rim. The gym went loud.
Then Olivia got hit. Coming back up the court, the Falcons center planted a screen that wasn’t a screen. Olivia’s ears rang. By the time she got her feet back, the Falcons had scored.
“You okay?” Victoria, jogging past.
“Yeah.” She wasn’t sure.
It kept coming. Danielle caught the ball in the post and someone was already on her.
“Get off me—”
No whistle. The pass came out ugly. The shot was worse.
“Ref!” Jasmine. The center had shoved her off the block again. Same nothing from the officials.
Nine points. Then seven. Then five.
“They’re just hitting us,” Danielle said on a dead ball.
“I know,” Victoria said.
Olivia drove the lane. The center stepped in. Olivia went down and the whistle blew. On her. She got up with her hands burning and the Falcons bench cheering.
Next play. She was supposed to cut. Her feet wouldn’t go. Victoria’s pass sailed past her into the bleachers.
“Come on,” Victoria said.
Three points. Olivia glanced at the Sirens’ side of the gym. They’d gone quiet.
Coach Warren called timeout. Olivia dropped onto the bench and stared at her palms. Red. She could still feel the floor.
“They’re not beating you. You know that.”
The gym noise fell away. Just Coach Warren’s voice.
“They’re hitting harder. That’s all they changed. Same offense, same defense. Their coach told them to lean on you, and they’re doing it, and you’re letting them.”
“The ref isn’t calling anything,” Jasmine said.
“I know. Stay on target. The system works. Castle Drop is holding. Twin Cast Blitz is scoring. They can’t stop it. So they’re trying to make you stop running it.”
Olivia’s palms were still burning. She closed her fists.
“You don’t play their game. You play yours. Stay on target.”
Same screen. Top of the key. Same girl.
Olivia went through it.
Shoulder first. The hit landed and she kept moving. Victoria met her on the other side.
“Go!”
Cross. Switch. Open shot. In.
“Yes!” Someone on the bench.
The Falcons missed on the other end. Jasmine grabbed the rebound, pushed it out to Victoria, and ran the floor. She got the feed on the block. The center leaned into her. Jasmine let her come, pivoted the other way, put it off the glass.
“How’s that,” she said to nobody.
Danielle picked off a sloppy pass. She sent it ahead to Olivia, who saw Victoria already running. Layup.
The Falcons coach called timeout. He was yelling again.
Coach Warren clapped twice. “Good.”
The buzzer went and Olivia screamed. Twelve points. The Sirens grabbed each other at center court. Danielle shoved Jasmine so hard she almost fell over, both of them laughing.
Coach Warren went to shake the Falcons coach’s hand. Olivia caught her on the way back.
“Coach. That screen in the fourth quarter. Was I supposed to go through it like that?”
“Did it work?”
“Yeah.”
“Then yes.”
Victoria bumped Olivia’s shoulder. They headed for the locker room.
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