FIVE STAR ☆ Paige Bueckers

46. Higher

I've been up, I've been down
Seen the world from the ground
But I hear the drumming
Now my veins are pumping
Scraped my knees, bruised my heart
Where you end's, not where you start

3rd Person

Jenna run towards the bench, whipping the sweater for forehead as KK hands her her water bottle.

"Thank you—" she mutters under her breath as she tries to catch it at the same time.

Her vision blur is that she looks out into the stadium, blinking quickly she focuses on Caitlin and Kate, who look at her with worry as they are so familiar with her game, Jenna has been being pushed around all game. She can already see the bruises forming on her forearm..

" you okay?" Kate mouths as the breathless girl nods only to be interrupted by Geno.

"Midow — you need to keep doing what your doing, they are going to keep throwing shoulders at you since they keep getting away with it.. Don't let up—" Geno nods towards the shaken up brunette in the huddle.

"Cmon Coach— there's not something we can do? They are beating her out there to avoid shots." Nika shakes her head earning other agreements from the team.

"And they aren't getting called for it! It's not fair—" KK chimes.

"I'm good — i got it.." Jenna lets out a breath before the refs break their huddle calling them back to the court.

"You okay?" Paige nods squeezing Jenna's shoulder lightly before getting a subtle head nod from her teammate. "Jenn.." Paige reaches out to grab her hand but Gemma refuses and runs back to the middle of the court.

they weren't going to do this now—

——

Jenna

"Jenn!" Nika yells towards me as i quickly run from my screen to the outer side of the court, clapping my hands, i demand the ball. I knew once i got it i needed to shoot or they would double team me.

Quickly feeling the ball on my finger tips two guards already are on top of me, quickly looking around i see they started to cover Paige the same way.

they figured out that we were too dangerous together.

So double teaming us was their best bet.

Using my small frame i charge through them staying low towards the net, only to feet a hard body connect with mine, causing me to lose control of the ball and my breath.

My knees burn as they skid across the court.

No whistle was blown as Gonzaga steals and is given an easy lay up.

"Fuck..." I whimper as my shaky hands run through my hair.

"Time out!! Cmon ref that's bullshit and you know it!" Geno screams shaking his head as he walks towards me, "Paige get her some water."

"Yeah go get your little girlfriend some water Bueckers.." girl on the opposing team laugh as they walked to the bench looking down at me. I could see paige holding back her anger as her jaw clench is hard before running to get my bottle of water.

"Hey kid..." He whispers kneeling to me as I look up to him, "Aubrey's ready to go in you guys say the word..." He sighs while Paige runs back over handing me my water bottle. I glacé over my shoulder 45-58. Us.

"Jenn— maybe you should take a break." Paige sighs looking over her shoulder to figure out what i was looking at. she knew better than anyone else. I would never back out of a fight, especially on the court no matter how much pain I was in no matter how hard they decided to hit me.

"No.." I shake my head pushing my hand out to be grabbed to help me up, quickly Paige grabs it as i whip my jersey down, "They have to kill me to get me out of this game." I nod taking one last look at the opposing team, "i'm not giving them what they want"

—

3rd person

"We are coming down to the last couple possessions of the 2nd John before the half, Uconn has been up this entire game but Gonzaga isn't too far behind— May i say the way the uconn huskies are handling this game shows immense maturity John."

"I agree Tim, that hit back in the 2nd to Jenna Midow should have shaken up the huskies but it only made them tougher to guard. Gonzaga came in with a plan to trump one of uconn's possible top scorers and they are failing."

"They do know better then to mess with Bueckers though—"

—

Paige

"Alright we are going to run Husk 18 okay? We need to guard 32 — she's been up Jenna's ass all game who knows what she will do next— Paige you have 16, she's quick you need make sure she has no way towards the net— her shooting percentage from the 3 is low— but her layups are high, keep her on the outside. Nika once you get the ball find Jenna, they're going to be looking for paige to look for Jenna so we can't look that way, do NOT charge, we are playing smart not dirty. Okay ?" The team nods as we stack our hands in the middle and break.

My eyes meet Jenna's tired ones — I nod towards her earning a similar one back, before getting set as number 16 is already pulling at my Jersey.

"Cut it-" I snap as i shove her softly.

"You know ya girl 6 is a tough one—"

"Keep her name out of your mouth" I mutter.

She smirks before the ball is thrown to her, i throw my hands up only to quickly snag the ball from her dribble and running to the other side of the court, only to realize my team isn't following behind me. Gasps fill the stadium as i turn to see the chaos.

"Jenna!" I whisper dropping the basketball to run towards the girl who clutched her leg as tears rolled down her face. My eyes immediately meet her opposing guard.

"This is bullshit! You've been fucking with her all game — lay off!" I scream walking over towards her shoving her shoulder hard.

"It's the game 5 chill your shit!" She yells back only for me to charge at her, but before i knew it Nika was holding me back.

"Well maybe if you stop fucking running your mouth you'd make your shots rather then pushing around my fucking teammates!" I yell before my eyes flash to meet Jenna's green ones as the medical team stands her up.

"Your princess is fine Bueckers— she's gotta learn to take it from the big dogs since you haven't been hitting it right." The girls wink making her teammates chuckle.

I charge her quick before a hand catches my shoulder, "YOU—"

"Thats it with you 5– Technical foul 5 White!"