BELTWAY B-BALL BRAWL

by Sheila Alexander-Reid

Two lesbian area promoters got together, assembled basketball teams, and created an exciting event. If you didn’t get a flyer or an email from either promoter you wouldn’t have known it was even happening. But it did occur, and it was more exciting than most WNBA basketball games. It had the behind-the-back passes, the no-look passes, the fade away jumpers, the DJ playing Ludicrus at every timeout, and the sold-out crowds.

It was David versus Goliath as the ragtag, unpolished Buckwild Events team representing Washington, DC took on the well-honed Team Onyx of Baltimore, Maryland. The game took place in the gym at the Baltimore City Community College’s Liberty Heights campus. It was a Beltway Brawl, and you had to be there to really appreciate it.

Sponsored by Mision, Team Onyx had the nice crisp white uniforms with blue stars on the jerseys and the sponsors’ tylish logo prominently featured vertically on the shorts.

Buckwild on the other hand wore simple black t-shirts, with and without cut off sleeves with a simple Buckwild Events name centered on the jerseys. The team had no uniform shorts.

It was clear after the first few minutes that Team Onyx had the home court advantage. They had the fans, the height, and according to some, the refs. In the first half over 70% of the fouls were called against Buckwild, some merited and some not. When the Buckwild’s coach and team protested loudly, the refs responded with a series of technical fouls. The refs allowed the women to play a very physical game—a little too physical. Elbows were flying, body checks were brutal, and reach-ins were ignored. In several instances, players were damn near mugged with no fouls called.

Granted, the first half was full of sloppy inside passing, low percentage shots, turnovers, and mental mistakes, but the bad calls and lack of calls by the referees angered both teams. Buckwild let the bad officiating distract them from their game and Team Onyx wisely used that to their advantage. Buckwild failed to penetrate and repeatedly shot three pointers with no one underneath the basket to rebound, and with no follow through.

Going into half time, Team Onyx appeared to have the momentum with more depth on the bench, more finesse, and more talent.

However, after coach Diane “Buck” Bushrod delivered a scathing half-time speech, her team came out rejuvenated, lived up to their name and went Buckwild on both offense and defense. The changes made at the half proved to make all the difference. Despite their advantages, Team Onyx had a few weak spots. They were shooting less than 50% of their shots, and were weak on the offensive boards. Buckwild saw those flaws and began to box out under the boards. On offense they also took smarter shots. After taking too many ill-advised three pointers in the first half, they attacked the boards with more intensity and made high percentage shots in the paint.

Both teams seemed to settle down in the second half. Team Onyx with the deep bench had the fresh legs and used that edge to score a couple of fast break points and make some pretty lay-ups that got the large Baltimore fans into the game. Their applause rocked the gym and seemed intimidating to the small DC crowd. But it wasn’t over yet. Buckwild finally got some calls to go their way and made key foul shots. Players stepped up on each team. Buckwild MVP Danielle Bethel went on a scoring and defensive rampage, and fired up the rest of her team. Not to be outdone, Team Onyx’s MVP forward, Regina Nolan countered by sinking a couple of key three pointers. Nolan and fellow teammate Cynthia Tyson also play for the Baltimore Burn football team.

With three minutes to go, Buckwild was up by seven points. However, with the inconsistent play of both teams, the game was still up for grabs. Team Onyx wisely fouled Buckwild players on each inbound pass late in the game, but when Buckwild sunk those foul shots it was all over. In the end the score was 53-61. It was not a pretty victory for the Buckwild Events team, but it was a win nonetheless. Part two of this Beltway rivalry will take place in Washington, DC. Stay tuned.