About a week before our cruise I texted Blakely's basketball coach asking if we were doing Madness this year because I hadn't heard anything yet and KK and Eden were about ready to start their Rec basketball season. That's about the time that Blakely's team usually starts practicing. Her coach was willing but also seemed a little hesitant because her daughter was also on another travel team and so she would need help coaching on days that conflicted. It's been like that the past couple years and everything worked out fine, so I didn't think anything of it. Well, while we were on our cruise I find out from other parents on Blakely's team that Blakely's coach and daughter has decided to not do Madness this year. WAIT, WHAT?!? That definitely wasn't the vibe I was getting from her. Plus we found out that another girl wasn't going to play with us but instead play with a 5th grade team (she's a grade younger than everyone else). Now we don't have a coach and we are down 2 of our best players! We had to scramble last minute to find a coach and two extra players. It was a bit of a whirlwind but we eventually got a team together.
This year was definitely a learning experience! The coach's daughter from the last couple years was the "all star" and all the plays revolved around her. It was definitely an adjustment trying to get girls to step up and learn to play with each other now that the "all star" wasn't there anymore. Even though they didn't win the majority of their games, I think it was a great season for Blakely and her team! They for sure were more of a team this year and not a one man show! That's what hurt them during tournament play last year because the "all star" got hurt and no one knew what to do. They couldn't and didn't know how to adjust.
This year definitely boosted Blakely's confidence. Not that Blakely was lacking any but I feel like her team finally started to trust her and realize her full potential. In the past I always felt like Blakely was an after thought. "Oh, our "all star" is covered by two people and the last 20 times when I tried to force the pass to her it didn't work very well. Maybe I should pass it to...Blakely??? I mean she is wide open!"
Blakely undoubtedly shined this year. She played a ton, got the ball a ton, and scored a ton! It was really fun to watch her!
Week 1
Game 1:
3 blocks!
Steal
basket
rebound
block
block
block
Blakely's team lost!
Game 2:
14 pts!
basket
basket
basket
basket
block
rebound and basket
basket
basket
rebound
We won!
Week 2
Game 1:
3 blocks!
block
Steal! and then jump ball.
rebound
Block? (maybe foul?) and then assist!
Fighter!!!
Basket (can't really see it because the ref was in the way)
block
rebound
They lost!
Game 2:
10 pts!
rebound and basket
basket
rebound
basket
basket with left hand!
basket
They lost really bad! It didn't help that they had back to back games and their second game was against the #1 team.
Week 3
Game 1:
6 blocks!!!
Blakely wins almost every tip!
probably over the back but she ended up with a basket!
rebound
basket
block
block
steal
assist
block x2?
block
block/steal
block
They won!
Game 2:
8 pts!
block
basket
makes the free throw!
fouled
makes the free throw!
basket (probably over the back though)
block but then they stole it away (the other team hit Blakely in the nose and she had to leave the game for about 5 minutes to stop the bleeding. When she left we were ahead but by the time Blakely came back we were down by about 8 points!)
basket
They lost!
Week 4
Game 1:
18 pts!
helped with the block
basket
basket
basket
basket
basket
basket
basket
basket (eventually)
rebound and basket
We actually won this game against the #1 team! They were missing some key players and their coach was gone but we still played probably our best game of the season against them. The girls worked really well together and Blakely was on fire!
Game 2:
6 pts
basket
block
block
rebound and basket
basket
rebound
We lost this game by 2 points! We totally could and should have won this game. Blakely had a nice block and the ref called it a jump ball which then gave the other team the ball back and they scored...really?!? On the bright side at least he didn't call her for another lame foul because he loves calling stupid fouls on Blakely (she fouled out of a game last year because of him). During this game she got called for over the back when someone on the other team shot a missile that made the ball ricochet off the backboard and bounced off the girl's hand that Blakely was guarding, bounced off of Blakely's hand, and finally was caught by someone else. Blakely didn't even touch the girl she was guarding.
There was another time (during this game) where we shot and got hacked twice. No call. The second time the other team got the rebound. The girl brought the ball down and just stood there with the ball right in front of Blakely. Blakely of course grabbed the ball. It should have been called a jump ball but instead the ref called a foul on Blakely! Seriously that ref has something against Blakely! I would say Blakely averages maybe 1 foul a game (except when he refs and she's lucky to come away with just 3)! It's not like he calls more fouls than other refs so it would make sense why Blakely gets more. He just picks on Blakely!
Week 5
Game 1:
Blakely technically won the first tip but they made them re due it.
block
steal
rebound
basket
We didn't even make it to half time before the other team forfeited the game. The coach on the other team was ticked off because he felt like the refs weren't calling a fair game. I thought the refs sucked too but they sucked for both sides so I'm not sure what the coach was yelling about. His team had 5 team fouls. Our team had 3 and all 3 were on Blakely (same ref that loves to call stupid fouls on Blakely). If anyone should have been ticked, it should have been me! I probably would have given that ref a piece of my mind if he called a 4th foul on Blakely! Thankfully the other coach told them they sucked so I didn't have to and the other coach got a technical! The refs told the coach that he had to leave the game. Honestly, I don't think that is true unless he gets a second technical, but maybe they have different rules for Madness this year? Last year our coach got a technical and she had to stay seated for the rest of the game. Anyways, the other coach left the bench but stood on the other side of the gym and refused to leave. The ref warned him that if he didn't leave, his team would forfeit. He refused, so they forfeited. I was a little sad that they didn't get to finish playing but at the same time, at the rate the ref was calling fouls on Blakely, she wouldn't have played much more anyways, so it worked out nicely! The other team really wanted us to continue to play without the refs. I'm glad that we didn't because we still had another game to play and we only had 1 sub. No need to risk injury and get everyone tired before the next game.
Won by forfeit!
Game 2:
Thankfully we were moved to another gym so we didn't get my favorite ref for the 2nd game!
4 blocks!
rebound
block
basket
basket
block
steal
block
block
They won!
Week 6
Game 1:
basket
block? and basket
basket
basket
basket
This game was a heartbreaker! We went into double overtime and lost even though it shouldn't have even gone into overtime to begin with. One ref wouldn't call anything and he just so happened to be down on our end so no fouls were called the last minute before it went into overtime and all of overtime. We were hacked every time we dribbled down the court and tried to take a shot.
The last play of the game was so frustrating. One of our players was dribbling the ball down the court when someone on the other team pushed her leaving her flat on the ground out of bounds. As she was falling she threw the ball to one of our players. As our player was dribbling the ball, the player from the other team that pushed our player, ran into our other player, stole the ball, and had a fast break to their basket. She made the layup so the game was over!
Game 2:
rebound
fouled
free throw made!
block (maybe foul)
basket
basket
block
We lost!
Week 7: Tournament
Game 1:
I was helping with the score board the first game so I didn't get any videos. Boo! We won! I can't remember but I think Blakely had 8 or 10 points.
Game 2:
block
basket
steal
They lost really bad! I figured they wouldn't play very well when they hardly beat the last place team. They definitely didn't come to play that day.
Game 3:
I accidently left my phone at home so I didn't get any videos for this game either. Oops! It probably was for the best because like I said earlier, the girls didn't show up to play that day. It definitely didn't help that they were the only team to play 3 games that day. We usually keep up with this team but the score wasn't even close.
I don't know why but Blakely's team always seems to freak out during tournament play. They've done it every year. At least they are consistent! Haha! I was hoping they would break the curse this year but no such luck!
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