Alexa's Second Game

I'll start this post with a story from when I was younger.  When I was about 12, we were playing in a basketball league and my dad was the coach.  It was a close game, and we had a chance to win on our final possession.  I brought the ball down, and instead of taking the last shot, I passed to Melvin Clemons.  He missed and we lost.  On the way home, I'll never forget the conversation I had with my dad.  He asked me why I passed the ball at the end of the game.  I told him that I didn't know, and what he told me after that stuck with me for the rest of my life.  He told me, don't ever pass the ball at the end of the game.  You take that shot.

I have lived by that for the rest of my career and life.  I can handle missing the big shot.  I can't handle not taking the shot and never knowing ... Here is a shameless plug of a big shot I hit in our college basketball conference tournament:

Lex and her team lost the second game of the season.  They were winning early,  but the other team came fighting back.  With less than 30 seconds to go, one of the girls on the other team hit a shot to give them a two point lead.  Of course in their league, the clock does not stop after a made basket, and as you can see below, our girls were scrambling to get the ball inbounded after they made the game winning basket.  Lex received the inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the court, weaved through the defense, took the first clutch shot of her career, and ..... AIRBALL lol.  She came up short when her team needed her the most, but I love the fact that that she was able to get the shot off in time and that she already knows she shoots at the end of the game.  After the game, she ran right to me and said that she was ready to leave and was in tears.  SHe HATES losing, another quality that I love about her.  She is very competitive in everything that she does.  We try to manage it the best we can without her losing that edge.  She also wanted to go practice today (Sunday, the day after).  That made me so proud!

Below is the final shot and below that is the full game.  This week, we work on using the backboard when she shoots layups and passing to her teammates when the defense is set up!  Lex missed a lot of easy baskets this game!

The Final Shot

The Full Game