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February 18th, 2016: The love of the game

Game day today. We were in the locker room getting ready...and I could feel my paws shaking. Coach ran the starting lineups today against the Moonshiners. Emina Ferhatovic, Oswaldo Puga, Josh Green, Wendy Brown,....and me. My first start for the whole season. Hell, the last time I was in the starting lineup was like.... years ago....but with a good part of the team injured, they needed me to step up. I was nervous, I won't lie about that, but I was too embarrassed to let Josh know and too scared to let Wendy know. Am I ready? Was this a bad idea? I want this team to win but......I'm no star player. I don't know if I can do this, I....

"Cloricia?!" Someone called out. It was Tyler Kiko. I walked over to him after I put my shoes on. He put his hand on my shoulder and began talking to me.

"Are you ready Tex?" He asked. "We need you to really do your best out there."

"I will." I said. Tyler was a good coach for us and he was still kind of a good friend to me....but I still miss Vincent Wei.

"Hey?" He continued. "Don't worry about being nervous okay? I'm sure it will be fine."

I took in a deep breath and said. "Tyler.....I appreciate the pep talk, but.....you're not Vincent.....I can handle this."

I then walked away without saying anything else. Vincent isn't here now. It's time to motivate myself.

The warm-ups were done and we were waiting at the bench for the player intros. I sat there next to Josh. I couldn't even look at him, but I had to trust him......we need to get this win. Josh then patted me on the shoulder. I looked at him and saw his big dumb smile. It always made me feel happy.

"Hey...it's just like college." He said.

It was a stupid comment....but it made me smile. Suddenly....I felt so much better, then I heard the announcer.

"FROM UNDERWOOD COLLEGE! THE COYOTE WITH ATTITUDE! STANDING FIVE FOOT, NINE INCHES!....NUMBER 3....CLORICIA TEIXEIRA!!!"

The spotlight fell on me. I stood up and gave my teammates some highfives. It's game time.

The game started out Alright. I had Hank Sawyer on me, but I found a way to get by him. It may be because of my height....but I'll just say that I'm faster than him. Me and Wendy were holding down the guards pretty good. Hank wasn't making much....might be because of Wendy's hard defense, but at least it was working. I took point and ran the plays Wendy taught me. I kept everyone in place and gave a lot of people open shots. In the start of the second quarter, we were still losing and I didn't score yet. It wasn't pretty, but then I got a spark of energy after I stole the ball from Knutten. I ran as fast as I could and I felt that I could score, but I saw Josh trailing me. I couldn't resist the assist. I ran straight to the hoop and threw it across the backboard. Josh did his thing and rose up and slammed it down. Not my first assist, but definitely my favorite. The game continued to be close, but we didn't give in. Tryce got on a roll at one point, then Knutten was making threes, but me, Josh and Wendy were locked in. We kept the ball moving and I finally got a lot of open jump shots. It was bucket after bucket. Easy. By halftime, I had 12 points and 3 assists. We were still down though....it wasn't over yet. Third quarter was a big difference. We had it locked down on defense and I got Josh two more dunks. Wendy kept up the pressure and even passed it to me for some threes.

Then....it came down to a two point lead for the Moonshiners.....and 5 seconds left. We called a timeout and ran through the play. I was going to bring up the ball, Josh was going to set the pick, and I was going to pass to Wendy for the shot. I was nervous as all hell, but I had to stay focus.......I got the ball and started down the court. I faked out Hank and Josh picked him. I saw Wendy open and I quickly passed it to her.....but Knutten covered her tight. She couldn't get the shot.....I was getting worried.....2 seconds left.....she passed the ball to me.....I had to shoot. I had to....I jumped up, took the shot, saw the clock go to 0......it went in. The arena was soooooo loud. I screamed in excitement. We tied it! We're going to overtime!

We completely took over at overtime. We won the game, 103 to 93. I had 21 freakin' points. I was so happy that I jumped up on Josh's back and screamed in happiness. We both laughed. I later found out that I got player of the game. I even had Hank Sawyer Congratulate me too. I shook his hand. He was a really nice guy. I think if it wasn't for Wendy's defense, I wouldn't be able to stop him. Stil, words couldn't describe how I felt. Then, I got a text from Teresa.

"Hey Girl! Great Game! Good news! We got a call from INFURIADE!"