Our weekend was pretty boring, other than a bunch of basketball Saturday, so I’m changing things up for this week’s posts. I’ll begin by recapping L’s hoops then get to some Jayhawk Talk later this week.

In our last volume in this series, I detailed a pretty rough week for L. This post will have a decidedly better vibe and includes another milestone in her young career.

Thursday CHS hosted New Palestine. I was a little worried in warmups as NP had a very tall sophomore who was draining 3 after 3. Our only JV girl with size has moved up to varsity full time, and I did not like the prospect of 5’6” freshmen trying to guard a 6’2” sophomore. Fortunately she wasn’t nearly as good when she was being defended as when she was casually throwing in shots during pregame and had no effect on the game.

It ended up being the easiest win of the year to this point. The Irish steadily built a lead throughout the game and were up by 22 going into the fourth quarter. The starters all rested and the backups held on for a 44–28 win.

L was really good. She hit her first shot – a long 2 from just inside the arc – then three of her next four. She reached double figures for the first time, ending with11 points on 5-of–7 shooting, but went just 1–3 from the line. She added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and ZERO turnovers. She was on the floor for 20 of the first 21 minutes before the fourth quarter.

The varsity game wasn’t much of a contest, either. CHS raced out to an early lead and never let up, winning by 19.

That game had some interesting moments.

We’re not sure why, but two normal CHS starters began the game on the bench. They didn’t check in until late in the first quarter and then only played spotty minutes the rest of the game. One has been injured, the other sick, but they were both acting normal. More on them in a moment.

Between weird lineup rotations, the big early lead, and L only playing three quarters of JV, I wondered if she might get a decent chunk of time in the second half.

So I was shocked when she ran to the scorer’s table a minute into the second quarter. Once she checked in, she didn’t leave the court until halftime. Honest-to-goodness varsity minutes!

She did ok. She grabbed a couple rebounds. She missed an open look from 3 against the NP zone. She hit a layup but was called for shuffling her feet before she took her first dribble. She did have a turnover but otherwise she handled herself really well in her six-plus minutes on the court.

She sat the entire third quarter as two of her freshman JV buddies got to play, then checked in for mop-up during in the final minutes of the game.

There was some other excitement. NP had a girl who was a great athlete but not a great player. She threw her body all over the place trying to make plays. She would make a great move to the basket, then hit the bottom of the rim with her shot.

She crashed into one of our girls on a rebound and got smacked in the face. No foul was called since she initiated the contact, but she went to the floor holding her eye. The officials stopped the game to check on her and seconds later T’ed her up. I figure refs are going to give you some leeway when you get hit in the face, so she must have said something really bad to earn the T. Later she took another smack in the face and played with a tissue hanging out of her nose to stop the bleeding. She had started the game with a big bruise on her face. Tough chick.

Understandably she was a little frustrated and began complaining about every call. She was very lucky she didn’t get another T because of how demonstrative she was a couple times.

Her dad, or at least another NP dad, did get ejected, though. I couldn’t hear what he said but several of their parents had been loud all night. He must have crossed the line as well because a ref stopped the game, pointed at him, and asked the CHS athletic director to escort him out of the gym.

Fun times!

To the injured girl’s credit, I heard her apologizing to one of her coaches for getting T’ed up as they walked to the bus.

Saturday we played at Heritage Christian, a 3A school about five minutes from Cathedral. Ten or so years ago they had one of the best programs in the country, winning multiple state titles and sending girls to places like UConn. They aren’t quite that good anymore, and we knew from basketball friends that their JV was bad.

L got off to a quick start in the JV game, hitting a couple shots and one-of-two free throws early. She also had five steals in the first nine minutes of the game. HC could not dribble and she took advantage.

About three minutes before halftime one of HC’s bigger girls crashed into L and fouled her. She knocked L over, lost her balance, and then landed with all her weight on L’s back. It looked bad. L was down for a minute or so before she could get up and walk off the court crying. She sat out the rest of the half and when the third quarter started remained on the bench. She took some Motrin S offered her but didn’t complain. We were cruising so she watched the entire second half next to the coaches. We ended up winning by 27.

L didn’t sit the entire second half just because she got hurt. Varsity was going to be short two players – those two who were benched to start the game Thursday – and several JV girls were going to have to play up. Both of the missing players are soccer players and chose to play in a soccer showcase rather than high school basketball. I wondered if their minutes were reduced Thursday because of their decision Saturday, but L didn’t think so.

Anyway, the game starts, our best player makes a couple dumb plays, and 90 seconds into the game L checks in. I thought she would play 30 seconds while the coach yelled at our star, then she’d check right back out. But L stayed on the court the rest of the first quarter. She missed an open 3 – seems like she hasn’t hit one in a game in about three weeks – but handled herself well. She showed no ill effects from the earlier crushing.

The highlight of the day for us was when she took an inbounds pass, dribbled up court, weaved around a screen, and went straight to the hoop and laid it in.

Varsity points! In December! In the first quarter of a close game!

I’m a little disappointed they didn’t stop the game to honor the moment, but it was a road game and I’m not in charge of these things.

It was the most confident play she’s made all year. I told her if she can do that in a varsity game, she can do it in a JV game.

Same story in the third quarter. She was the first off the bench and then didn’t leave the court again until the end of the fourth quarter. I didn’t track it as closely as I do in JV, but I’m estimating she played 20–22 minutes. She took four shots, only making that layup. Other than committing one foul, she didn’t check any other columns in the box score. But she looked comfortable, moved the ball, and even brought it up when they double-teamed our best player in the backcourt.

The game was pretty great. We had the ball up one with 19 seconds left and called a timeout. Whatever play our coaches set up we ran wrong, because HC’s best player stole the pass and drove for a potential game-winning layup. This girl is a D1 recruit and somehow missed it. But HC got the rebound, gave her the ball again, and we fouled her with :00.5 left. She made the first, missed the second, and we went to OT.

L had played her five quarters for the day so had to sit and watch the extra time. Which ended up being eight minutes because we were still tied after the first overtime period. Fortunately our girls buckled down in the second extra frame and won by nine. Our best player, a junior who played for HC as a freshman, scored 26. Our center had 18 and 16. Our third regular starter had 17 and 7. It was a fun day.

L was very happy after the game. Everyone was high-fiving her and telling her that she did great. She said her coaches told her she’s improved a lot and earned the minutes she played.

She still has a long way to go, but she’s gone from turning the ball over on her first play of her high school career to getting serious minutes in a varsity win. All within six or seven weeks.

A pretty good week for JV, varsity, and L.

Their reward? The undefeated, #2 4A team in the state tomorrow.