"Hell yeah!" Ashley exclaims as the scoreboard changes to reflect our 2-0 lead.
She then runs by me, flashing me a quick smile. 

The game went on like that for the next two quarters.  We were winning 86-60, and Ashley and I had assisted each other in scoring a large chunk of our team’s points.  With only a minute left in an hour-long game, everyone seemed exhausted, including me.

Karen had possession of the ball now, and I was closely guarding her.  There was no way they could win, but I didn’t want them to score another point before the clock ran out.  Then, for a brief moment, my exhaustion took hold of me and I let my defense slip.  Karen must have seen in that second that I was not completely paying attention. She made a break for the basket.  I tried to run after her but as I turned, I smacked face-first into what felt like a brick wall.  I could hear the thump as the back of my head bounced off the floor of the court.  The next thing I knew Coach Cooper was standing over me, asking me if I was alright.

"Carlin, can you hear me?"

I tried to blink away my disorientation before answering.

"Yeah, yeah, I’m okay, what the hell was that?"

"Katie set a pick and you ran right into it…hard," Ashley interjected as Coach Cooper helped me off the floor.  I looked over at Ashley and saw that she was struggling to hide smile.
 
"Well why didn’t—" I was only able to get half of my question out before I started to feel light-headed.  Coach Cooper reached out to hold me up.

"Whoa there.  Okay, I’m going to need someone to take Carlin to the nurse.”

All I could hear was silence.  I’m sure most of the girls thought I deserved to be knocked down for making them run earlier.

“No, no. I’m okay, really,” I tried to persuade Coach Cooper to drop it, but just ignored me.

“Katie, I’m going to volunteer you to take her, since you are the one that knocked her down.”

After rolling her eyes a few times, Katie, who really is stocky enough to be mistaken for a brick wall, begrudgingly agreed and helped me out of the gym.