She coughed and blew out a cleansing breath before she took a moment to determine what play was being run and finding her position. Over the course of the season the team had become adept at giving a member time to catch up, even when the ball was in play. It was just understood that even in the heat of the moment there were moments when you needed to take an extra breath.

The 40/42 score didn?t last long and suddenly Cat found herself looking at a 43/42 score and cursing a blue streak, even if it was in her head. Looking at the game clock she knew that the next eight minutes would make or break the Badgers, Dylan and even her own career. They needed this win to get to the championships and they all wanted it.

It had to happen.

She called a second time out and led the team back to the bench, where Dylan looked at her with some concern.

“You hurt?”

“No, I?m mad.”

When the rest of the team gathered round, Cat took the playbook and dropped it to the floor. “Forget the book. Sometimes you just can?t play by the book. So here?s what we?re going to do?”

Dylan stepped back and just watched Cat work.

Cat looked at the clock.

Ten seconds to go.

Badgers in control of the ball with Angela leading the charge to the net.

Cat knew the most important thing right now was protecting Angela, making sure she got to make that three point shot. Every member of the team seemed to be working on telepathy as they formed a protective circle around their forward. Even as the Spartans tried to find a hole to get through the Badgers managed to close them up before anyone could even get close to Tippens.

At the three point line, with three seconds left on the clock, Cat turned to find a forearm coming directly at her throat, which she couldn?t get away from. Seeing stars as she fell back, she could barely make out the form of a Spartan player knocking Angela off her feet.

There seemed to be only a slight buzzing in Cat?s ears and she wondered briefly if she hit her head when she hit the floor, then she realized the buzzing was the roar of the crowd and through the tears in her eyes she can make out 63/65 score.

We did it. Cat smiled as she closed her eyes.

She knew she hadn?t been there long when she opened her eyes and found Dylan leaning over her.

“How bad are you?”

“Hey,” Cat smiled, “We won didn?t we.”

“I mean hurt.”

“I don?t think I am. Help me up.”

Dylan pulled Cat to her feet, sheltering her, since was a bit unsteady on her feet. “Are you sure you?re not hurt?”

“No, I?m okay, just banged up.” Cat smiled at the coach, but then noticed the medical staff hovering over Angela. “Shit. What did they do?”

“We?re not sure yet.” Dylan released Cat, who went to her teammate and knelt down by her head.

“Hey Tipper,” Cat used Angela?s rarely used nickname. “How ya doing?”

“I?m good, but my leg seems to have opinions of its own.”

“Well, no matter what happens, you won the game, hero.” Nudging her friend with an elbow earned the grin she?d been hoping for, and she tousled Angela?s hair as the med techs rushed in and deposited the downed woman on a stretcher.

Dylan sat in the hospital waiting room watching as every member of the Badgers paced back and forth waiting for the final word on their injured player.

“Well hell,” Chaney sat down in a chair across from Dylan. “If her ACL is torn, we may as well kiss the championship good bye.”

“No way,” Cat straightened up from her spot against a wall. “If her ACL is torn that bites and it sucks for Angela and we?ll have to go after the championship. It won?t be easy and it won?t be fun but we can win it. We have to, for her. For us.”

Dylan stood and stretched, it had been a long night and her plans of buying her team dinner and then a quiet night with Cat had gone down the tubes the second the team doctor had made a preliminary diagnosis of a torn ACL. After that the entire team demanded to go to the hospital and wait. “Cat?s right. We have to win it and we will. For us.”

Stripping off her scrub gown and gloves, Kelly Norton opened the door to the treatment room and beckoned Dylan inside. Once the coach?s broad shoulders had cleared the swinging doors, Norton grabbed hold of her elbow and led her to a quieter corner of the room, away from the exam table and the techs who were fitting Tippens with a heavy brace.

“Good news or bad news?” Norton asked, keeping an eye on the action in the center of the room.

“C?mon, Kelly, I don?t have time to play word games. Just tell me how she is.”

“Alright. It?s her ACL, but it?s not torn, just badly sprained. She?ll need a brace and crutches, and a shitload of physical therapy, but I don?t have to cut on her, and if she follows my orders, she?ll play again.”

“Thank God,” Dylan breathed, genuinely relieved.

“But not this season.”

“That?s fine. I don?t care about this season, Kelly. I care about her career.”

Norton met the intense blue eyes and nodded, her own gaze softening perceptibly. “I know, D. I know. She?s gonna be plenty sore for awhile, but she?ll be okay.”

“Good. Can I see her?”

“She?s kinda doped up and probably won?t make any sense, but sure.”

“Thanks.”

The techs backed away as Dylan moved forward to the table and looked down at her fallen player. Angela was a little pale, and her leg looked as if it had been through the meat grinder, but otherwise, she looked better than Dylan could have hoped.

When she saw her coach peering down at her, a big, morphine-enhanced grin curled her lips. “Heya, Coach!” she sang, trying to lift an arm, then giving up when it didn?t want to work, and letting it flop down to the bed. “Howzzz thangs?”

“Things are pretty good,” Dylan replied, trying to keep her expression serious.

“Thass good.” Her eyes widened. “Gosh, you sure are pretty, Coach! Did anyone ever tell you that? That you?re reallll pretty?? Did they?”

Dylan could feel the heat of the blush crawling up from her neck, and glared at the others in the room who were snickering at her. They quickly found other things to do. When she looked back down at her player, Angela looked as if she was getting ready to cry. “Hey. What?s wrong?”

“I ain?t gonna be able to play no more,” she mumbled, sounding very much like a three-year old.

“Sure you will,” Dylan countered, taking the young woman?s hand. “You?ve only got a sprain, not a tear. Didn?t the Doc tell you that?”

“Don?t remember.”

Dylan looked over at Norton, who nodded.

“You?re gonna be fine, Angela,” the coach said. “A brace, crutches, some PT, and before you know it, you?ll be sinking threes again just like you did tonight.”

Big, round, innocent eyes met hers, hope shining in them. “You really think so?”

“I know so.”

“Gosh, Coach Goddess, you?re real swell. And pretty too.” Tippens giggled and tried to lift her arms again. It was a lost cause, and after a final squeeze of her hand, Dylan backed away, gesturing for Norton to follow her back to the corner.

“What?s up?” the doc asked.

“Dobbins. She?s the only one we have who can play her position, and she?s been suffering back spasms since the Pistol?s game. Do whatever you need to do for her, but make sure she can play tomorrow night.”

“I don?t know, D. She?s been in a lot of pain?.”

“Just do it.”

Norton blinked, then nodded. “I?ll see what I can do,” she said tightly.

“Good.”

“You can let the others in to see her for a couple minutes if you want,” Norton called out to Dylan?s retreating back. She received a brisk nod in response as the coach hit the door and disappeared back into the waiting room.

A minute later, a flood of players entered the room, talking excitedly.

Back in the now empty waiting room, Dylan dug her cellphone from her pocket, flipped it open, and punched a button with her thumb. She held the phone to her ear until the line was answered by a sleepy, annoying voice. “Manny? We need to talk. Now.”

“And that was the buzzer, Lori, bringing to close a, well, I guess you would have to call it ?inspiring? half of basketball.”

“Inspiring indeed, Ted. With the Badgers? great defensive shot blocker and outside threat Angela Tippens out with an injured knee, Lola Dobbins has been doing her best to fit in, but you could tell several times out there that her back was giving her a lot of trouble. Frankly, I?m surprised Coach Lambert kept her in the entire half.”

“Well, Lori, it?s not that surprising when you look at their roster and see that there really isn?t anybody to replace her with. Thorne?s been having trouble with bursitis in her shooting arm, and I don?t think Dylan is comfortable going up against a team as all-around tall as the Lightning with three women in there under 5?6”. Especially with Cat Hodges, their outstanding point guard and court general, hobbled with that sore knee.”

“Very true. What is surprising, I think, is that the Badgers, the little team that could, has actually managed to make somewhat of a game of it out there today. Yes, they?re losing by fifteen at the half, but they?ve overcome worse deficits, and in the last game, managed to win despite behind eleven at the half.”

“I guess we?ll just have to wait and see what tricks Coach Lambert can pull out of her sleeve this week, Ted, because things the way they are, I don?t think we?re in for a repeat of that last game.”

“Understood, Lori. Well, folks, stay tuned for the second half of what promises to be a gutsy performance by the Birmingham Badgers against the perennial favorites, the Louisiana Lightning. And we?ll be back after this commercial from Maxi-Fresh.”

“I?ll be fine, Coach!” Lola Dobbins yelled from the depths of the whirlpool into which she?d been ensconced the very second the buzzer rang ending the half. “Just a little more of this hot water and a good massage, and maybe a shot, and I?ll be good to go. I can feel the muscles relaxing already!”