January 7th (not everything is EXACTLY like the real life game but I try to keep atleast 75% true, also two chapters back to back? Yall eating ain't yall)
Uconn Vs. Providence
W 85-41
Nika P.O.V
Geno is definitely on our asses right now, it's the second quarter against Providence right now. It's almost the end of the first quarter and the score is 18-10 us.
Providence is not good.
We should be blowing them out by at least 15 by now.
I watch as Ashlynn moves away from her person, driving to where Kk was late on her assignment before watching as Kk's girl passes it to the open player Ashlynn had left. In a hurry, the freshmen tries to get back to cover her, but she proves to be too late as the three falls cleanly from the girls shot.
Let's make that 18-13.
"What are you guys doing?! If you're going to leave her wide open like that you might as well gift-wrap this game for them and put a bow on it!" Geno yells, the older man frustrated on the sidelines as he runs his hands through his gray hair, mumbling something under his breath as he walks back towards the bench. I see coach look at the players sitting down before shaking his head.
"Don't worry about it, we got this." I pat Ashlynn on the back as Kk moves to inbound the ball back into Paige, I run alongside my twin as she dribbles it down the court. Paige goes behind her back before passing to Ashlynn who does a step back into a clean top of the key two pointer which falls. I cheer at the girls comeback before tailing it back to our own side to defend my girl.
I look over at Geno who's calling a play, and when I glance back to the court I see my girl sprinting towards the paint. Instantly following her ad she gets the pass I throw my hands up, boxing her out and forcing her to pass it outside of the paint, to the girl in the top left of the court, behind the three point.
She shoots it, Aaliyah's hands up infront of her causing the girl to miss the three pointer. I fist pump at the good play as Paige rebounds, sending it back to me. I take off down the court, dribbling between both of my hands as my eyes scan for my teammates.
Paige is on a fastbreak as I throw a bounce pass to her, the girl catching it and driving for a lay up through contact, making the shot and getting a shooting foul called on her for.
"AND ONE!" Paige yells, stepping towards me as we both jump for a chest bump, Paige flexing as she lands and I hype her up.
"That's what we do twin!" Paige laughs as I shove her playfully before taking her spot on the free throw line. The shot easily going in. When her free throw falls I see Paige glance to the bench and throw up a rock symbol, my eyes following hers and seeing Maia in a squat infront of our bench, taking photos before letting the camera drop and clapping. I smile for Paige noticing the photographer was wearing Paige's blue jersey, while the team wore white.
Providence calls a timeout after this, letting my team gather ourselves and get a little bit of water in our system. Geno pulls Ashlynn and Kk aside, explaining something to them as Paige and I go to Maia.
"Good shit guys." Maia lets her hand linger on Paige's back for a bit before dropping it, looking at me. "You're both going to have some really good shots for your instagram after this by the way."
"Thanks babe." Paige gets out with a slight pant, still catching her breath from the game. With the loud cheering and rumbling of the arena, no one would hear the term of endearment except literally Maia and me but even then I'm sure stories would pop up because of the jersey our photographer wore.
"Yeah thanks M." I say as well as Maia just nods, lifting an eyebrow as she notices me looking around.
"She's in the student section with some of her teammates, they came to support today so she didn't want to not be with them." I nod at the explanation, it making sense. With Alyssa pretty much being Maia's right hand helper with us, the girl had the ability to sit on the floor with us as well.
My eyes drift towards the student section, trying to find my girlfriend which shouldn't have been too hard because her and her teammates are tall as fuck just like my own. My eyes find Jess first, her raven colored afro puffs standing out in the crowd before I spot Alyssa in the mix of her teammates. Her hands are cupped around her mouth, saying something that I definitely can't hear with the announcers and crowd yelling, but I grin at the sight of her wearing my hoodie.
The timeout ends not long after I find her and my teammates and I move back towards the court.
_______
Maia's P.O.V.
"Nah ref! That wasn't a foul, I was stopped, I wasn't moving!" I chuckle to myself as I hear Paige's commotion near the bench, my girlfriend arguing after a blocking foul was called om her.
"My feet were planted, that's a charge not a block! Man, whatever." She waves the ref off earning a chuckle from her teammates on the bench, especially Azzi who was definitely used to the girls antics by now. Geno just shook his head, hands behind his back as he watched the game play out.
It was the third quarter and the score was 41 to 35 us, and you could tell that the team was a bit uptight about it, knowing that with a team like this they should have had an early blow out lead on them. Moving with the athletic trainers when another timeout is called, I hand both Nika and Paige a water bottle, taking the opportunity of the time out to capture some photos of the backboard itself as well as our logo on the ground.
Paige is saying something to Nika which I block out before I hear my name being called.
"Huh?"
"Did you think that was a blocking foul? Was I moving at all?" Paige asks me, knowing I still had knowledge of the game from when I played. I think back to the play that happened a few minutes before.
"I don't think you were, but from where the ref was you were also blocked by your girl, and your top half of your body was still loving from your momentum so since he couldn't really see your feet that's probably what he went off of. Not really worth the challenge though, not at this point and time." I conclude, watching as my girlfriend's lips purse before she nods in understanding.
"Got it Coach M, I'll work on that." She finger salutes, jogging over to her teams huddle. Nika shakes her head with a laugh following her and I just grin.
I turn to the bench as the timeout ends, snapping some pictures of Azzi, Iñes and Caroline who are sitting near each other, the latter throwing up a peace sign.
"Cuteee." I comment happily, checking the picture before turning back towards the game. My phone buzzes in my back pocket and I move to grab it, quickly checking it.
Lyz
Next time Nika comes back during a timeout tell her if she gets another foul called on her I'm coming down there and playing for her.
I laugh at the message in my notification bar, we all knew both Paige and Nika were aggressive as hell on the court, Nika more so. The girl had already wracked up 3 fouls with a little over 20 minutes left to play in the game. Alyssa always commented on it in scrimmages or anything we watched with them, trying to get the girl to draw less fouls over time so she wouldn't always be in foul trouble.
Hey, her defense is on point though, if it's not broke don't fix it.
Maia
Come down here and tell her yourself
Lyz
You act like I wont.
I laugh again, putting the device away as I grab my camera from resting on my chest again. The competitive nature of their relationship when sports were involved may seem overbearing to the basic eye, but when you have two of the top players in their individual sports dating, the drive to better their partner neither disappears, no matter which way that help comes in.
Paige likes feedback, I can catch things she can't in the heat of the moment. I'm always keeping an open eye with plays involving her for that very reason.
And because she's hot as fuck but that's a given.
Nika though, Nika gets in her own head alot, she needs someone to be able to knock through that before she can take the constructive feedback/cristism to heart. And with Alyssa being just as stubborn as her sometimes when she's playing, she knows exactly how to get through and what approach to use.
Sometimes it's calling her out on the shit she's messing up on, and sometimes it's giving her pep talks.
Right now I'm feeling Alyssa wants to call the girl out though.
My laugh dies slightly the more the game is played, Uconn was definitely pulling away now, the girls starting to work as a complete unit in the later halve of the 3rd and 4th quarters, giving them a win of 85 to 41.
The team cheers and I do as well, jumping up and down and cheering with Kk who comes running over to me, hugging me.
"You guys did it!" I laugh as Kk puts me down, the freshmen laughing and breaking out into a dance, Paige hyping her up as she does so. My eyes catch Paige's as they start to line up for high-five and she winks at me, I smile back, waving.
Yeah, this is my family and my home.