Luck, Prayer, & a Girl Named Bre - A Fan's Perspective

The word of the day, and week so far, ought to be "Bre".  For the Orioles, 14 was the lucky number.Oriole Fans poured into Wells Fargo Arena  early, mixing in near the George Little Rock Mustang fans, and watching their game with a vested interested in the outcome, hoping to be playing the winner on Friday night.  It was a great game, and though the Mustangs went home, they played hard. As the end of that game approached, Yellow shirted "crowd control" officers suddenly appeard in the aisles, Motioning for the attention of the Oriole Fans, and sternly instructing them to "stay in your seats until the Mustang fans have cleared the section. " Looking up the rows, we could see them forming a protective wall, and my seat mate and I laughed, wondering what exactly they thought we were going to do...but they did not move an inch until the middle section was all but empty.  Apparently they believed we might storm the seats or something.... Anyway, once we were "allowed" we all moved closer, and as it turned out, we pretty much filled all three middle sections anyway.  Tip Off went the Orioles way, but that was the only thing that did for the first several minutes. We watched as the Orioles struggled, and found themselves down by 4, then 1. With a score of  13 -9 Bearcats at the end of the 1st quarter, it was looking to be a long low scoring night...From time to time I glanced over at the Student section, to see how the Mafia managed the sportsmanship challenge.  Since the fouls called have been going our way (the free throws not so much) there hasn't been a chance to see what they will do when it's free throw time for the other team, but so far, good job.  With no cheerleaders, the Pep band for the Bearcats effectively kept their crowd alive. Down by a point  at the half, the tension in the Springville crowd was thick and almost visible. The Mafia men were on top of things.  North Butler fans are screaming "air ball", and chanting during every free throw, and our kids are doing the "right there" chant for our girls, and some little two line chant that I can't make out, then silence, when the bearcats are at the line.  The difference in the noise level during free throws was black eye obvious and makes us proud. GREAT JOB MEN! Wish I could say the same thing for the adult fans all around me.  A lot of coaching and screaming at the ref's from the stands.  I wonder if all those people actually have coaching certificates, or reffing licenses....Second half...never a dull moment. Low scoring, but not boring, as the lead changed faster and more times than we could track. 3 point game, 2 point game, 1 point game, tied game, ACK!!...8 seconds to play and the Orioles are down by 2!!  Every fan is on their feet, but fearing the worst, when Katie Eiben magiacally appeared under the basket and dropped it in to tie the game and send us to overtime!  A collective sigh of relief filtered through the stands, and the Orange and Black clad spectators sank back into their seats to regroup, and catch a breath...calm down...It was only a split second calm, as the 4 minute overtime was more of the same, and once again, down by 2, with less than a minute to play, every Oriole was on their feet, (some likely clutching their chests because the oxygen had most certainly been sucked out of that side of the arena) the crowd noise was overwhelming, (and we were long past worrying about what the student section was doing, because this was overtime, for the right to move on) and fear was beating in every Oriole heart...every heart except one...gliding through the lane like a warm knife through butter, number 14 slid to glass, dropped in the lay up for a tie...HOLY COW SHE DREW THE CHARGE & Oriole fans GO WILD...stood at the line looking cool as ice, up went the ball, swish went the net.....NOW we might need those people in the yellow shirts....the Bearcats throw up a prayer, Kloubec grabs the rebound, and the arena erupts with jubilant Orioles and their fans, so loud you could barely hear the announcement that we were advancing to the championship round.  At last we see those Orioles we know...grins so wide they stretch from ear to ear...hugs and high fives all around...HAPPY Orioles spilled out onto the floor to acknowledge their fans and the press.A lot of Oriole skill, & a little luck was involved, probably thousands of prayers,  and there was Bre Oxley.   Hitting crucial  free throws in the waning moments on Monday, and a couple seriously gutsy plays under the basket on Wednesday, including the game winning drive to the basket and follow up foul shot, she saved the day, and thus far the week  for the Orioles.Three cheers to you, Ms. Oxley, and Congratulations Orioles it was heart stopping win...but you won, and we are on to the championship!Now get out there and show those Cougars that when you mess with the bird, you get the BEAK!

Go Orioles!