Free Full Court Press by Eric Walters Page B

I didn’t think we necessarily had one before,” Mr. Roberts explained.
    He walked over and handed the ball to Kia. “Congratulations on being the player who used her brains as well as her abilities to turn things around.”
    The whole team cheered. That somehow seemed almost more amazing than our win. Who would have predicted this happening a week ago?
    â€œAnd the second matter,” Mr. Roberts continued. “Can everybody please leave me their sweaters. Now that we don’t stink anymore, it’s time that the sweaters didn’t stink anymore.”

Chapter 14

Another ‘W’

    â€œAnd just before we conclude our morning announcements,” Ms. Grieve said over the P.A., “I’d like to make note of our school basketball team. They did us proud last night with their third-straight win of the season, leaving them in fifth place in the league! Let’s give them a big round of applause!”
    Everybody in the class started to cheer. I felt myself start to blush. I remembered that my grandmother once said to me that blushing was happiness rushing to get out. That thought made me blush more.
    â€œHave another great Clark day!” Ms. Grieve said as she ended the announcements.
    â€œKia and Nick, I was wondering, how much longer there is to go in the season?” Mrs. Orr asked.
    â€œOne more game,” I said.
    â€œUnless we make the playoffs,” Kia added.
    â€œI didn’t know there were playoffs,” Mrs. Orr said.
    â€œOh, for sure. The top four teams make the playoffs,” Kia said.
    â€œBut we’re not in fourth right now,” I said.
    â€œRight now,” Kia agreed. “But we could be in fourth if we win our last game.”
    â€œIf we win our last game and the team that’s already in fourth place
loses
its last game,” I added.
    â€œThen we’d both be tied with four wins and four losses, but we’d get in because we beat them when we played,” Kia explained.
    â€œSo you still have a chance,” Mrs. Orr said.
    â€œNot much of one. They’re playing the last-place team in the whole league. They’ve only won one game this season,” I said.
    â€œMaybe that team has gotten better,” Mrs. Orr said encouragingly.
    â€œNot likely,” I answered.
    â€œDidn’t your team suddenly get better?” she asked.
    â€œI’m sure nobody expected your team to have a chance to qualify for the playoffs after your first few games of the season.”
    â€œI guess you’re right,” I admitted.
    â€œAnd if you surprised a lot of people, may be that team will surprise you, “she continued.
    â€œThat would be nice.”
    â€œThat’s a more positive attitude. Now I’d like everybody to open up their reading books. I’d like to start the day with silent reading.”
    A little cheer went up from the class as everybody dug into their desks to get their books. Everybody loved silent reading, including me. There always seemed to be so many good books to read. I pulled out my book and opened it up to the spot where I’d left my book mark.
    The novel was called
Silverwing
and it was about bats. Normally I’m not into stories with talking animals, but there was something about this book that I really liked.
    I was just about to start reading when I began to think about what Mrs. Orr had said. She was right, our team really had improved and it wasn’t just because of the press. That had just been the beginning. Using the presshad allowed us to score some points and that started us winning and that started us believing that we actually could win.
    All the things that Mr. Roberts had been teaching us in practice seemed to start working. People were passing more, and setting picks. And suddenly things like our free throws started to drop, and people were running back faster on defense, and getting rebounds, and when a ball was loose our players would throw