Team Win

team with our fans after the win

I think one of my favorite things in basketball is when a team pulls together to get a win. It’s like a good boxout, or setting a good screen that gets one of your teammates open…a strong team win just feels so…communal. Like everyone did just what they needed to in order for the team to accomplish what they set out to – win.

Our game this weekend, was in Le Havre, France (in the upper Normandy region)…a loooooong hike from Limoges.  After losing our last two games, we knew this game would be really important to keep us in the running for the rest of the season. Le Havre was also 1-2 going into the game, so we knew getting a win in their gym with the same things at stake would be a challenge. Even so, I could tell my teammates and I were collectively determined to come away from this game with a “W.”

After what I could call the worst toss of a jump ball in the history of my playing basketball (seriously, it’s not that hard to throw a ball straight up in the air), and losing the tip, we went down by ten fairly quickly. I picked up a second foul in the first quarter (again, ugh (this is really not a good habit I’ve gotten into over here)), and watched from the bench as my teammates went on scoring runs which Le Havre continually answered throughout the second quarter. Finally, in the third quarter, we went on a run that Le Havre struggled to answer, putting them on their heels as we headed into the fourth only down by four. With the momentum in our favor, we pushed and pushed until we finally took the lead and never looked back. We ended up winning 62-55.

I didn’t have a particularly good game, which almost made this game even more refreshing in a sense – because now I know I don’t have to play a perfect game in order for us to get a win. Next week we’re back at home against Reims, a must-win game for us!