A Jordan way is the winning one
Another Point of View
MOSES LAKE - Jay Cutler is no Jordan Loera.
Being a Chicago Bears fan and having to endure our quarterback's penchant for not rising to the occasion, I reflected on what I had seen Thursday night at Moses Lake High School's Maroon Gym.
I wished Jordan played football.
You see, Cutler isn't a guy that knows how to rise to the big moment and come up even bigger. He isn't even that well liked by his teammates - alledgedly.
But the Moses Lake girls basketball team is a different story entirely.
Having been involved in and around competition since I was three-years-old and having learned the game of basketball in the city of Chicago, I can easily recognize when it is indeed, "game on."
On Thursday, Jordan proved her positive influence on the program by what her teammates did without her.
To reset the table, her Chiefs - who would ultimately win an over-officiated game, 52-43 game - were in a tussle at 38-37 when Jordan and her team turned the ball over, giving Wenatchee a chance to take the lead.
One look at her face and I couldn't help but laugh: Oh, my was Jordan unhappy.
I looked at the Wenatchee guard bringing the ball down the floor and immediately felt pity.
Because there was no way Jordan Loera would let her pass. No way. No how.
On queue, "swipe," a Jordan steal.
Sadly her opponent, in all of her confusion (add in a little dose of terror), pushed Loera right into the official - who, on this night, strangely decided not to blow the whistle - who couldn't get out of Jordan's way and a Chiefs' opportunity was lost as the ball went out of bounds.
OK, now we are dealing with a Jordan ticked times umpteen million. I immediately looked up a flower shop to send to the Wenatchee kid, who I knew, without any doubt, was doomed.
Yup, she was.
"Swipe."
But, this time Jordan swooped to the hoop and scored to give the Chiefs a 40-37 lead.
Moments later, my heart was broken.
Why? Because, Jordan, who I have learned these past two seasons is quite the fine young lady, would not get to end her regular season playing career at Moses Lake High School's Maroon Gym on her terms.
A foul call from an official located on the opposite side of the court, from the other side of half court, would call Jordan for her fifth foul. Jordan stood under the basket on a rebound play where she was not within two feet of the kid who tripped over her own two feet.
Jordan Loera would play no more.
But only in body.
What many may not have noticed was that Jordan held a fighting spirit that was bigger than the gym we were in.
However, it fit just right within the rest of her Chiefs teammates.
You could feel that after the two steal attempts, Jordan had amped up her team, which had been languishing a bit. You could feel that even with her fouling out you couldn't remove the raging intensity and competitive fire that poured out of every bone in her body.
As sophomore Courtney Kunjara would say later, the team couldn't "waste her game."
The young Chiefs, without their multiple-times over savior on the floor, dug deep, outfought and out big-played the Panthers to win a crucial game.
When Jordan leaves Moses Lake to go to the University of Oregon there is no guarantee that she will be the next Sue Bird or just a nice little player we see have a great moment once in awhile.
Who cares.
What really matters is that a team she has been a part of, and this year helped nurture, may have found itself.
They found itself because Jordan became coach Loera. She didn't pout, she didn't scowl at the refs, she didn't do anything but become an active member of the coaching staff, pulling her teammates through.
Their win on the floor that night was a bigger testimony to the person Jordan is then the player she could ever be.
Moses Lake High School girls basketball will move on into the next years without Jordan Loera in body, but not in spirit.
Because what I saw this incredible night was a team that believed in themselves and realized that they all had it in them to play the right way, the winning way.
The Jordan way.