UHGB Senior Night
On Thursday night the Uni High girls basketball team played Decatur Lutheran in its Senior Night game of the 2005-06 season.
So there went another Senior Night, and with that another class of ballers (Al Johnson, Julie Chen, Nuole Chen, Alejandra Collopy, Colette DeJong, Katie Carmody) with all their hopes and dreams that they may or may not have suceeded in reaching over the past four years. It's like Senior Night is the final test — it's your last chance to win or drop 20 or dunk or whatever else you've been working and sweating and dying for 24/7 ever since you stepped into the gym for your first day of Hell Week freshman year.
But yeah, so there went this year's Senior Night, and despite all the tears that I know UHGB's Class of '06 shed last night when they laid down on their beds and realized that they just played their last game on Kenney's floor, they definitely went out strong, despite the 50-35 loss.
I mean, it's easy to not give up and keep trying when you know there'll be consequences: like if you play as all-out as you possibly can then in time you'll get more playing time and it'll help the rest of your season and career.
Or knowing that if you go for it and take the chance you might come out with the win and it was a risk worth taking. But what's not easy is knowing that it's your last year and your last nonregional game as a high school baller (and probably the last basketball game of your life) and that where you stand right now is probably where you'll stand when you leave this team and that the time for any big miracles to happen to your game or to the team is running out.
When you know all that and you still don't give up and play your heart out until the last 13.8 seconds of the game (when you go out, because you're a senior and now it's your turn to get the standing ovation you watched Molly Smith get last year), that's dedication.
So yeah, I'm proud of them.
Bianca Zaharescu