Monday, Mar. 08, 2010

Bus ride meant more

I asked Enloe girls basketball coach Pina Baker in Thursday night's press conference if there was a point when she had a second thought about the moment about stopping her bus to pick up the Clayton High School girls basketball team along 264.

The Eagles and Comets met Thursday night for a spot in the state semifinals at Greenville Rose High School on Saturday. Enloe rallied for a 56-51 victory after trailing by as many as 14 in the second half.

My question to Baker was a set up, I admit. And she did just what I expected her to do.

She gave the perfect answer.

"At no point [did I second guess myself]," Baker said. "There are lessons I'm trying to teach these girls that far exceed anything that we do in the gym. I want them to develop a selfless attitude for others.

"He's [Clayton coach Marlon Lee] my friend and my friend called me for help."

The Comets' bus had stopped running just west of Farmville.

Lee sent Baker a text message saying his bus had broken down.

Not being the texting kind, Baker called Lee, and after making sure he wasn't just pulling her leg before the big game, tried to determine where the bus was.

"He had a hard time telling me where he was, but I knew we were behind them," Baker said. "I was just thankful that it was my bus coming along and that we were the ones who had the best chance to help them out.

"There are things in life you just do, because it's the right thing to do."

Baker would have preferred it if the two teams playing in Thursday night's game were the only ones who knew about the odd predicament they found themselves in on the way to the game.

But by the time the two teams arrived at Rose High School, word was already spreading. Feel-good stories, especially those involving students, have a tendency to do that.

The players just went with the flow of things, thinking nothing of the act.

So when the Wake County Schools activity bus carrying the Eagles pulled up in front of the Clayton bus on the side of the road, Enloe's players simply slid over to one side of the bus, giving the Comets the other side.

"At first, I didn't know what was going on because we were all asleep," said Enloe guard Dana Brown. "We just got up and moved over to the left and let them come on, then we came down here and played."

The act -- from Marlon Lee's call to a friend seeking help to Pina Baker's immediate response -- was nothing out of the ordinary, except that it came on a night they were supposed to be strictly rivals.

"They stopped and offered to pick us up," Lee said.

"You just hope everybody else's response would be the same if they were in that situation."

What happened along U.S. Highway 264 Thursday night has happened before, it'll happen again. It might end up in the press, it might not.

Either way, it'll be the most important outcome of the night.