The gymnasium was packed! There were no empty seats i the padded, wooden bleachers. half of the gym was chanting for us, the Bay area Magic, and the rest of the California Ballaz. This was the championship game for the 'Jam On It' seventeen and under tournament and everyone was watching. The game was tied at fifty-five to fifty-five and there was one minute remaining on the scoreboard. California Ballaz called a thirty second timeout; both teams when tot heir benches. The chairs were blue and the seat were fashioned with a cushion that had the school mascot on them. I sat down on a blue chair and drank a Gatorade. Coach as pacing back and forth and sweating bullets. He told us to man up, to match up with an opposing player. The short, stubby referee blows his whistle and five players from each team step out onto the court. I found a player, number twelve and matched up with her.

Sweat dripped down from her face, rolling past her temples and down her red cheeks. Her eyes locked gaze with mine and sent sheer fear down my spine. Her brown hair was soaked with sweat and clung to the nape of her neck. What scared me the most about her was the look of hunger in her face. She looked as if she really wanted to win the game, and win at any cost. This was my opponent and we were hungry for the same thing.

The referee handed the basketball to the California Ballaz. My team got in front of their men and played man to man defense. Number two on the opposing team threw an overhead pass to the right corner. A short, Asian girl about my height caught the ball. Half the crowd sighed as the ball was almost stolen. The girl bent her knees and shot the ball into the air. The ball rotated perfectly, then veered off slightly to the left. Krystal, a girl on my team stood about six feet tall and was slender. She jumped into the air and tore the ball out of the sky. She held the ball above her head and pivoted to face the wings of the court. She saw me and forcefully passed the ball to me. I caught the ball, put my head up, and dribbled down to the left side of the court... Seeing an open teammate down the court, I picked up the ball and threw it to her. As she caught the ball, I let out a sigh of relief. Looking down to see where she was located on the court, she took a step back to be behind the three-point line and shot the ball. The ball swished through the net and the crowd went wild! There were twenty-four seconds left on the clock and we were up by three points. We ran down the court to set up our defense. The California Ballaz passed the ball around trying to get an open shot. They passed the ball to the girl I was guarding and she shot the ball. I hurriedly put my hand in her face to mess up her shot and boxed her out. She missed the shot and our team got the rebound.

As the shot clock wound down five, four, three, two, one we started jumping in triumph. We won the championship game and were ecstatic! Our team was awarded individual trophies and a team trophy. Our coach was smiling a way I had never seen before. Our team went to the quietest place in the gym which was a corner by the exit doors. We took pictures and talked about the game. The team was satisfied with our win that we went out to eat at Outback. We all walked out the doors in our red uniforms with our heads held high in the air.