STATE EXTRA: SACCO: It ends like it always does - side by side

RICHMOND

They waited in the hallway together. One by one they reminisced about the season. Spoke about the loss. Tried not to cry. And Kendra Scott, the wounded warrior, was the last one to talk.

The others — Angela Mickens, Kathleen Thompson and Daquaa Scott — done with words and ready to heal, turned to walk away until they noticed Kendra had stopped. The other three turned back as well, leaned up against the wall and waited. They never left each others sides.

“We’re together. We stay together,” Kendra said. “That’s all the time.”

While the others enjoyed three months of basketball, Kendra only enjoyed three weeks. The other weeks since November were spent waiting and rehabbing a chipped bone in her knee. And as she talked some more, he eyes slowly turned to red and filled with tears. She took a second to sigh and blink, her lashes keeping that tear from leaving her eye.

It wasn’t supposed to be this year, some would say. A team filled to brim with freshmen, sophomores and few juniors is more suited for day care than a varsity basketball team. Some would say this year was a bonus. Others would say it was the luck of the draw. The Lee Ladies, however, never doubted that the 2008-09 season would end on the Siegel Center floor. Though they envisioned a better ending than watching Freedom celebrate, the Little Team That Did from Staunton buried its collective face into a jersey as the Eagles celebrated.

“It’s a dream,” Mickens says. “And then you wake up and hit reality. We just woke up too soon, we woke up too late. By the time we woke up we were down by 20.”

That’s how the dream ended.  That’s just basketball, you never step on the court thinking you’re going to lose.

“We were a little nervous,” Mickens said. “But we had enough confidence.”

What they didn’t have was enough height and enough shots to fall. What they didn’t get was to hold was that first-place trophy they’ve coveted since November.

And while coach Jeremy Hartman says this was just the beginning of the journey, that was a tough sell to the girls who couldn’t believe it would hurt so bad when its place right in front of you and something won’t let you grab it.

Yes, they don’t lose a soul to graduation, but that means little after a 25-point loss for all the state to see.

“Tomorrow’s not promised to us,” Mickens said. “It was today.”

And it was over as they waited for Kendra Scott to finish her interview and hold back that tear.

“We’ll be back next year,” Kendra said. “And hopefully we’ll see them again.”

And as she turned that tear finally escaped, flowed down her cheek and past her lips.

And as Kendra turned to walk away, Daquaa, Mickens and Thompson turned with her and began to walk down the long hallway behind the stands in the Siegel Center. Blue numbers against black jerseys, nobody led, nobody followed. The four of them, all in a row across the white tile under the bright white lights. Nearing the end, they reached the carpet under yellow fluorescents.

Finally, they turned the corner, side by side, and disappeared from the Siegel Center together.

For now, at least.