of action was to keep away from her as much as possible and to get hold of the ball when she was behind Marie’s back and throw for the basket before Marie could turn around.  Guarding is only effective when you have some one to guard and Marie discovered she was really playing a game of tag with Sahwah, who was continually running away from her.  With the wonderful team work which the Washington team had developed and their perfect understanding of each other’s movements, Sahwah could get widely separated from Marie and be sure to receive the ball at just the right moment to throw a basket.  Twice she made it; three times; four times.  Pandemonium reigned.  “Guard her, Marie!” shrieked the Mechanicals.

The score stood 8 to in favor of Washington at the end of the first five minutes.  Marie was white with rage.  Was this a girl she was trying to guard, or was it an eel?  She would get her cornered with the ball, Sahwah would measure Marie’s height with her eye, locate the basket with a brief glance, stiffen her muscles for a jump, and then as Marie stood ready to beat down the ball, as it rose in the air, Sahwah would suddenly relax, twist into some inconceivable position, shoot the ball low to center and be a dozen feet away before Marie could get her hands down from the air.

  “B-R-E,
  DOUBLE-U, S,
  T-E-R,
  BREWSTER!”

sang the Washington rooters in ecstasy.  It was maddening.  There was no hope of keeping her from scoring.  The time came when Sahwah and Marie both had their hands on the ball at the same time and it called for a toss-up.  As the ball rose in the air Marie struck out as if to send it flying to center, but instead of that, her hand, clenched, with a heavy ring on one finger, struck Sahwah full on the nose.  It was purely accidental, as every one could see.  Sahwah staggered back dizzily, seeing stars.  Her nose began to bleed furiously.  She was taken from the game and her substitute put in.  A groan went up from the Washington students as she was led out, followed by a suppressed cheer from the Carnegie Mechanics.  Marie met Joe’s eye with a triumphant gleam in her own.

Sahwah was beside herself at the thing which had happened to her.  The game and the championship were lost to Washington.  The hope of the team was gone.  The girl who took her place was far inferior, both in skill in throwing the ball and in tactics.  She could not make a single basket.  The score rolled up on the Mechanicals’ side; now it was tied.  Sahwah, trying to stanch the blood that flowed in a steady stream, heard the roar that followed the tying of the score and ground her teeth in misery.  The Mechanicals were scoring steadily now.  The first half ended 12 to 8 in their favor.  But if Marie had expected to be the heroine of the game now that Sahwah was out of it she was disappointed.  The girl who had taken Sahwah’s place required no skilful guarding; she would not have made any baskets anyhow, and there was no chance for a brilliant display of Marie’s powers.  Marie stood still on the floor after the first half ended, listening to the cheers and expecting her name to be shouted above the rest, but nothing like that happened.  The yells were for the team in general, while the Washingtons, loyal to Sahwah to the last, cheered her to the echo.