Before they entered the gym at Haverford to warm up, Coach Dunphy stood in front of his players.
“This may or may not be the last time we’re together as a team,” he said. “I just wanted to tell you all—win or lose today—how much I’ve enjoyed these last few weeks. I started out doing this as a favor to an old friend and to help you guys out because I thought you deserved it. It’s ended up being one of the more enjoyable experiences of my career. That’s because of all of you.”
Jamie stood up and said, “Coach, how about taking over the varsity teams next year?”
They all laughed and Coach Dunphy said, “You’ve got a great varsity coach.”
“Maybe you could be her assistant?” Andi asked.
Coach Dunphy smiled. “Now, that might be a possibility.”
They all had smiles on their faces when they went out to warm up. That good feeling lasted right until tip-off, when Bjorn out-leaped Eleanor for the tip and directed the ball right into the hands of a streaking Faroh-Wantu in what was clearly a set play. Faroh-Wantu was past Maria before Maria could take a step and went in for an uncontested layup.
Fun time was over.
It was 8–0 before Coach Dunphy called time to settle his team down. “Hey, we knew they were going to be good,” he said. He looked Eleanor in the eye. “Do you think the Bjorn kid is better than you, Eleanor?”
“No, sir, I don’t.”
“Fine, then quit playing like you’re scared of her.”
He looked at Maria. “How about you, Maria? Is that little point guard better than you are?”
“No, sir, she’s not.”
“Same thing: Play like it.”
Finally, he pointed at Andi.
“You’ve had two open shots and passed them up, Carillo. You afraid to shoot?”
“No, sir.”
“Fine. Then shoot. You’re the best shooter out there on either team. Funny thing, though, you can’t score if you don’t shoot.”
He stared around the huddle as the horn sounded and one of the officials poked her head into the huddle. “Gotta get ’em out, coach.”
Coach Dunphy put his hand into the middle of the huddle and everyone jumped to put their hands in, too.
“Play like champions!” he said, and they all repeated the three words.
It was the first time that Coach Dunphy had really gone after the players since he’d taken over. Of course, it was the first time he’d really needed to go after them.
Maria brought the ball down, raced behind a high-ball screen from Jamie Bronson and, as the defense came to her, quickly reversed the ball to Andi, who was wide-open. She was practically into her shooting motion as she caught the ball. It swished—for three—and Merion was on the board.
“Here we go,” Andi said as she backtracked to set up on defense. “Here we go.”
Coach Dunphy’s words clearly calmed the Mustangs down, and they began playing like the team that had won seven straight games—most easily—since his arrival. The Squirrels’ lead was down to 14–10 at the end of the first quarter. Both coaches gave their starters a rest in the second quarter because the pace of the game was fast and the intensity was building. The Haverford gym was packed—a lot of fans had come up from Merion, and there had been some Temple fans following the Mustangs since Coach Dunphy’s arrival—so it was loud. Also, hot. The weather outside was unseasonably warm for late February—midfifties. It was 25–22, Haverford still up at halftime.
“This is exactly the kind of game we expected, isn’t it?” Coach Dunphy asked during the break. “We don’t need to do anything fancy, just keep doing what we’ve been doing since it was 8–0. Any questions?”
There were none. The season had come down to twelve minutes of basketball. You couldn’t ask for much more than that.
The second half began with Eleanor pitching the ball to Andi out of a double-team and Andi drilling her third three of the game to tie the score at 25–25. Then, after a Haverford miss, Maria found Lisa on a sweet backdoor cut, and for the first time all day, Merion led. It was 27–25.
It was the Haverford coach’s turn to call time to calm her players. It worked. A three by Faroh-Wantu put the Squirrels back in the lead at 28–27. The game seesawed. Neither coach went to the bench to start the fourth quarter. This wasn’t the time to rest. There would be plenty of time for that after the game—especially for the losers.
An offensive rebound by Jamie set up a Maria three with 1:44 left, tying the game again at 49–all. It was the kind of play no one on the Merion team would have even thought about early in the season. Jamie grabbed the ball, quickly recognized she had two defenders in front of her, and turned and got the ball back to Maria as she stepped into her shot.
Coach Dunphy had told them not long after taking over that Mike Krzyzewski—who he had played with on an all-army team after college—had once told him the most demoralizing play in basketball was a three-pointer that came after a missed shot and an offensive rebound.
Haverford came down and was clearly in no rush to take a shot. Their players looked tired, but the Mustangs were tired, too. Finally, when the clock got to thirty-five seconds, Haverford called time.
“We can’t just let them run the clock down and take a shot at the buzzer,” Coach Dunphy said. “We have to attack defensively. Even if they score, we get the ball back with a chance to tie or win. I would rather give up a layup right now than a three. So, let’s attack the perimeter. And don’t worry about fouling. Let them have to make two and we’ll still get the ball again.”
They all nodded.
“One more thing: Don’t call time when we get the ball. I don’t want them to set up their defense. Just run the clock to ten and then”—he paused to look at Maria—“you create something.”
Maria nodded.
Haverford inbounded and Faroh-Wantu stood near midcourt to dribble the clock down. Maria and Andi double-teamed her. She picked the ball up and passed quickly to Bjorn, who had come out to take the pass. Bjorn fed Faroh-Wantu, who went to the basket. With Eleanor having come out to guard Bjorn, the lane was wide open. Faroh-Wantu laid the ball in with the clock ticking under twenty.
Bronson grabbed the ball and inbounded quickly to Maria so Haverford wouldn’t have a chance to call time. She raced into the frontcourt, then pulled up. Everyone ran to their regular positions in the offense. Maria dribbled the clock down and, at twelve, started toward the key. Faroh-Wantu backpedaled, keeping her in front of her, willing to give up a three but not a drive into the lane. Jamie came to screen, and her defender went with her to switch and get over the screen.
Maria picked the ball up and ball-faked as if to pass inside to Eleanor. Andi’s defender, seeing the fake, dove in the direction of the lane. Maria saw her move and instantly swung a pass to Andi. Andi took one quick dribble and shot from just outside the three-point line.
Swish. It was 52–51, Merion. Andi saw the clock melting from three seconds to two. Behind her, Andi could hear Coach Dunphy screaming from the bench for time out. “Time!” he screamed. “Time!”
No one heard him. Bjorn had grabbed the ball out of the basket and flung a pass to Faroh-Wantu just short of midcourt. She took one dribble and shot—either just as the buzzer went off or just after it went off. Andi wasn’t sure. The ball arced through the air, hit the backboard—and dropped through.
One ref was running downcourt, arms in the air to indicate the shot counted. The other—Andi made a point of looking—made no signal.
The Haverford players were celebrating. Coach Dunphy charged at the official who hadn’t given any signal and said: “The shot was after the buzzer and you should have given me time out. You can’t count that basket!”
The official put her arms up defensively. “Hang on, Coach. Let us sort this out.”
There was, of course, no replay, and there were no tenths on the clock. The two officials went to the scorer’s table and talked to the clock operator for a moment. Then, with two security guards having magically appeared to stand in front of them, they retreated to midcourt to talk. Everyone milled around waiting for a decision.
Finally, the official who Coach Dunphy had tried to talk to nodded her head, walked in the direction of the scorer’s table, and put her arms in the air in the touchdown signal, meaning the shot—obviously a three-pointer—was good.
There was no way to argue or plead the point. There was no replay.
Final score: Haverford 54, Merion 52.
The season was over.