As I hopped out my bed around 7:00 AM on February 26, 2015, and my nerves were starting to kick in. That night at 6:00 PM I was playing in what all the newspapers were calling “The Rematch of the Year.” The papers were headlined with titles such as “The Rematch Is On,” and “The Game We’ve All Been Waiting for.” The papers were right. This game was the game our team had been waiting for all year. In the power rankings, Destrehan High School was number four and we were number five, which meant that we had to play at Destrehan’s gym because they were ranked one point higher. The last time that we had faced Destrehan was in the 2014 State Championship game, and we came out victorious; however, this year was totally different. Throughout the season, both teams did not hide the fact that we were waiting desperately to face each other in the playoffs. When playoffs started, we wanted to take the road to the state finals one game at a time. First, we defeated Archbishop Chapelle; then we defeated Carencro High School; then came the biggest game of our season: Destrehan. Even though this game was not the state finals, the way the brackets were set up made this the biggest game of the Class 5A playoffs. In fact, LHSAA almost had to move the game to a different location to accommodate such a large crowd; for fear that Destrehan’s gym would not be big enough to hold the amount of people that were going to attend this long-awaited rematch. Last year when we won state, the coach for Destrehan did not even shake our hands after the game, and in the post-game interview, she referred to our team as “just a bunch of white girls who could easily be beaten.”  Ever since that State Championship game, Destrehan was our biggest rival.
The day of the game, I could barely even pay attention in class. The whole team got out of school at 1:55 PM to get something to eat, relax, and watch film on Destrehan. We departed school at 3:30 PM, and as each of us stepped on the bus, any outsider could tell that the Mount Carmel Academy basketball team was more pumped up for this game than we had ever been before. On our way to the game, the music was blaring so loud we probably blew out the speakers in the MCA beaming, new, white bus. As we pulled into the parking lot of Destrehan High School, each of us were standing up on the bus dancing, pointing at people through the windows, and soaking up all of the adrenalin that was present in what we called “The Trap Bus.” We walked into the gym and immediately got death stares from the coach, the players, and even from the people working the concession stand. The few of us that were on the State Championship team last year walked in with our rings glistening proudly on our fingers, only hoping that we would be able to add another sparkling jewel to another finger. We went through our normal warm-ups, with each of us occasionally making remarks such as, “This is NOT going to be our last game tonight,” and “Y’all, we’ve been waiting all season for this game. Let’s go get it.”
As the game started, we came out hot going on a 9-0 run in the start of the first quarter. Destrehan called a timeout, and they were quickly whipped back into shape. Before we knew what hit us, the halftime buzzer sounded, and we were losing by six points. We were in the locker room feeling a little discouraged, but our assistant coach quickly boosted our confidence by telling us, “We all knew this was going to be a dog-fight,” and “We knew they’ve been asking for this game; this is what we practiced for.” The start of the second half was unlike any other game I have ever played in. We came down the court and hit a three pointer, then Destrehan came down and hit a three pointer, and then the cycle repeated three more times. The announcers were astonished at the way Destrehan was shooting the ball. I thought to myself as I was running down the court, I’m pretty sure they could throw the stupid ball behind their back and the ball would go in. With a minute and 30 seconds left to play, we were down by nine points and the whole team had almost given up hope. To our surprise, with the clock ticking down and only having 10 seconds left, we were only losing by three points because of a few three pointers we had hit. Destrehan was getting ready to pass the ball inbounds and, by chance, the girl taking the ball out of bounds stepped on the line. The ball was in our possession with 5.5 seconds left on the clock. Our assistant coach quickly called a timeout, and she swiftly drew up a play for a three point shot since that was what we needed to tie the game. Each and every member on the team quickly shouted, “Finish” as I and my four teammates got ready to put into action the play our assistant coach had quickly drawn up. The referee handed the ball to Paige, and as Paige quickly passed the ball to Taylor, our team captain, Taylor attempted to dribble towards the goal, but the Destrehan defenders were all over her. Just about the time we thought the game was all over, Taylor launched the ball from her waist with one second left on the clock, and the ball somehow found its way through the net.
I leaped onto Taylor in a heap of emotions, both of us ending up on the floor. We ran over to the bench, and we all knew that we had to get re-focused; this game was far from over. The score was now tied 75-75 and we were heading into a 4-minute overtime. When overtime began, we came out hitting a layup and a three pointer, but unfortunately as the final buzzer sounded, we came up three points short. The final score of the game was 90-87, and each heart of every girl on the team was suddenly crushed.
People that were in the stands and watching the game live from their homes were saying that our game was the best high school basketball game they had ever seen. Even though we fought until the very end, after the game I could barely catch my breath. I could not believe this heart-clinching game had ended this way. We headed towards the locker room and when we all sat down, there was nothing but weeping and sniffling. Our coaches told us that we had fought hard, and we should have nothing to be ashamed of, even though there were no words that could help console the broken hearts of the Mount Carmel basketball team. We all came out of the locker room puffy-eyed and with our noses running. Each member of the team will forever have the score of the game, 90-87, plastered in our minds. The only thing anyone could say was, “Three points. All we needed was three more points.” As I fell into the arms of my best friend and most cherished teammate, Taylor, I told myself that I was never going to feel this way again. No matter how hard we have to work, the returning team members and I agreed that next year the State Championship would be ours.