The end of March means the end of the youth basketball regular season. Everybody's finishing up their schedules and getting ready for the playoffs or the beginning of baseball and softball. Hardly anyone expects a late-season youth basketball game to be any good. Oh contraire, mon frere. The game played on March 22, 2013 between St. Joseph-Cottleville and St. Peter was the greatest 10-9 game ever played.
St. Peter built an 8-3 lead through three quarters. St. Joseph played good defense, but couldn't get very many shots to fall. Coach Dan Stretch of St. Peter had only five players. So, he used his timeouts for strategic adjustments and well-timed breaks for his girls. He could be heard telling the girls they would need one more basket.
Coach Stretch was right. St. Joseph's consistent rotation always kept a fresh group of kids on the floor and the numbers game was catching up to St. Peter. They're only 10 and they were tired. Their little legs were starting to wobble after 45 minutes of full-court play. Shots started to fall for St. Joseph and what seemed to be a comfortable St. Peter lead started to fade.
St. Joseph closed the gap to 8-7 with a little over a minute to go. That's when St. Peter followed coach's orders and hit one more layup making the score 10-7. A three-point lead with about a minute left usually means dad can warm up the car at a youth basketball game. Not this one, though. It ain't over until the fat lady sings and St. Joseph seemed to have a muzzle and some duct tape.
The St. Joseph girls responded with a layup of their own and closed the deficit to 10-9 with 15 seconds to go. St. Peter turned the ball over on the inbound and St. Joseph called a quick timeout. There was time for one last play. Ball gets in. A St. Joseph player takes the shot with a St. Peter defender in her face...and misses wide to the left!
Game over. St. Peter wins. No one loses. The girls on both teams had a great time. Every girl played in this epic contest and the quality of play had every adult focused on the kids. The Brigade was in place to recognize someone and we could have very well recognized everyone. However, the evening's honor went to Coach Stretch of St. Peter.
His team played with great discipline, heart and respect. They didn't complain about being short-handed. They didn't complain about being tired. They were even smiling on the last play of the game. What a ride! What a season! Congratulations to St. Joseph and St. Peter on a fantastic game and good luck to all in the future.
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| Brigade member Donovan Lucas with Coach Stretch |
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