Last year my basketball coach always told us not to be afraid to have the ball in our hands when it comes down to it. He meant never be afraid to take the big shot at the end of the game. I took that to heart, and when I got the chance I would do so. That chance came this year in a game versus the best team we played all year.

We had a very mixed junior varsity squad. Usually the JV of small town Cannon Falls is just sophomores and a couple juniors. Our team consisted of three freshmen (including myself), four sophomores, and four juniors. None who have ever played together up until this year. I don't think anyone expected us to be expected us to have such a successful beginning to the season with losing only one game so far. But our biggest challenge of the year was still yet to come.

Rochester Lourdes was the sports powerhouse of the conference with their football and basketball teams going to the state tournament almost every year. Their JV team was undefeated coming into our match up and was supposed to beat us with ease.

It was a Saturday afternoon home game, and I had slept in and had a good night's rest. During warm ups everyone was feeling energetic and ready. When coach called us to huddle before the tip off I was so nervous and drowned in my own thoughts all I got of his pregame speech was what defense we were playing.

The jump ball went to them. From there on it was an all out battle with neither them or us giving an edge to each other. Neither team's offense was coming easy to them, but this was due to the dominating defense from both teams. We were in our full court trap the ball press. We had run it every game and was our main source of offense turning our steals into points. We went into the half with a two point lead.

In the locker room at the half our coach said what everyone was hoping to hear. He said we could win this game, and we all believed it. We came out of the second half even more energized than before jumping passes and getting steals and turning them into points. With our defensive gears turning our offense started to click too. We turned the two point lead into a much more comfortable ten point lead, but then we made the worst mistake we could have at this point. We relaxed, and they took full advantage of it. With the time winding down they had tied the game up. We had the ball and had the chance at the last shot. Our quick and smart point guard threw one up but it fell short and came off the front of the rim to their large center. He made the outlet pass to Rochester’s guard who had time for one half court heave. He missed it and we went to overtime.

Overtime started off on a sour note. I made a stupid double team and left my guy open for a three. He drilled one in from deep to give them a three point lead. As I was jogging up the court I saw coach already sending a sub in for me because he was disgusted with my stupid defensive mistake. I came off a screen hard to the hoop with my defender trailing. I got the pass stopped hard and jumped and shot right as my defender ran in to me. It went in to make it a three point play opportunity. I stepped to the free throw line and drilled it to get back the three points I had just given up. That's when I knew overtime would be a tightly played five minutes.
With time winding down I had the ball on the wing and had a lane into the basket. This was my chance to take the big shot. I drove hard full speed. I saw their big center slide into the lane, and I thought I can get a foul here for sure. I was taking into the air just as I saw our point guard slide into the opposite block. While in the air I made a perfectly placed bounce pass to him. He got fouled and sent to the free throw line. Confident as ever he drilled them both no problem. Leaving Rochester with three seconds to win it. They threw up a half court shot and missed. We had won.
My coach told me never be afraid to take the big shot and that was going through my head the whole time. It could have been my chance to shine, but another quote came into my head. Pass up an open shot for a more open shot. That’s what I did. I didn't get credit for making the winning assist, but I only cared about the winning part.