JV Basketball. Again.

Last night in the last home game of the season, the Mathews High School JV girls beat rival Middlesex in one of the higher scoring games of late:  37-14.

I don't know what is wrong with me, but I get so involved in these games that you would think I was out there on the court.  I am physically and emotionally drained.  Completely.

Also?  I get cotton mouth for about the first half.

I'm not talking about the cottonmouth moccasin that frequents our shorelines.  I am talking about the condition that some weird people get due to nervousness,  hormonal imbalance stress, and anxiety.

When I played high school basketball, back when people drank out of garden hoses and this other ancient relic of a contraption known as a water fountain, I chewed Gatorade gum to help with the cotton mouth I'd get before every game.  But I was a player and had every right to be riled up and a little nervous.

A healthy dose of adrenaline helps you play better.

But as a spectator?  Cotton mouth?

It's happened for almost every single game this season.  By the second half it goes away.  (Not coincidentally, the second half is usually when we play our best.)

Last night against Middlesex, however, we came out strong and stayed that way for the most part.  Sure there were sloppy passes, balls that would not drop in the bucket, some missed foul shots. A technical called against us.  A few balls slammed down on the court in anger.  A few "out of the ref's vision" pushes.

But hey. It's a JV team. We can't expect perfection even though one in our midst physically feels pain when they turn over the ball.

This team cannot be beat on defense, though, and luckily we started pressing right out the gate.  Usually Coach Tommy only uses the press in dire situations, such as when I am about to go into cardiac arrest because the game is so close.

This game, however, after we made the first bucket, we started pressing.  And it worked.

Oh, how it worked.

Anyway, the girls have one more game Thursday night at King William.  If they win that game, they will have a perfect, undefeated season.

It doesn't get much more perfect than undefeated.

This edition of Mathews High School JV Sports Synopsis brought to you by one MHS Has Been who puts as much physical energy into spectating as some of the girls do on the court.

Just ask anyone who sits next to me.  (That would be Mr. Junie on my right or my mother and father to my left, all of whom cringe every time I jump up and down hollering. Oh, and the Moughons.  And the Callises. They cringe also.)

The End.