Win No. 1 for this Coach in 2011

‘If we lose this game, I should be fired,’ I said, quietly as I sent five girls out onto the court this morning for the final quarter of our seventh regular season game of the year.

This was the closest we’d ever been this season to putting a mark in the ‘W’ column, and I wanted to win to validate all the hard work the girls had put in to this point in the season.

As a head coach, you live for games like this.

After dropping two easy baskets, we trailed by two, 14-12. However, as the fourth quarter unraveled, and my team started making free throws (we got the other team to foul us so often we ended up on the free throw line, for the first time this season in the bonus!) I saw light at the end of the tunnel.

With 10 seconds left we got fouled and made the first free throw to go up 16-14. The second shot bounced right down to one of our girls, but the ball was tied up: jump ball, and it was our possession.

If you like tie-ups, you’d love our games.

We took the ball out of bounds, threw it in (to our team, which was huge for us, we needed to drain eight seconds off the clock) and put up a few shots. When the final shot went up, I turned to see the final second tick off the clock.

That’s a great feeling, if I can say so myself.

The final score read 16-14, in favor of the St. William Lady Knights. Doesn’t get much better than that if you ask me.

With the win, I now have compiled more wins as a head coach, in a season and a half, than I did as a player in four seasons at St. William.

My goal at the beginning of the season was to be playing our best ball at the end of the year (and we’re doing a darn good job at that), to have each girl improve as the season progresses (and that’s working out well too), to have each girl score (still working on that one with three games to go, but I have a feeling we’ll get there) and to win one game.

We won one game last year, and we were the only team in the school to do so. While I’m not positive on how many wins each St. William team has compiled this season, win numero uno for my team was an accomplishment.

Now we shoot for win number two, and we are playing well. Hopefully we can get another win before the season closes out. If we do, I’m sure I’ll let you know about it.
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The NASCAR race tomorrow at Martinsville might look a lot like a race I attended in 2008 according to some drivers who said the Goodyear Eagles aren’t properly rubbering up the track in Virginia. We’ll see what happens. Check FOX19.com for my immediate post-race story (if the race ends on time) and check back here for some analysis of the Goody’s 500.

Have a good Saturday night and Sunday. I’ll see you back here tomorrow or Monday.