“Did you watch Hessie while Mrs. Case was talking?” whispered Jess in Laura’s ear.
“No.”
“She looked so scornful! I hope she won’t make us unpopular with the East High girls. But you know how mean she acts sometimes when we play with some of the scrub teams.”
“It will be too bad if she makes a scene,” said Laura, thoughtfully, “and shames us before our opponents. The girls of Central High will then get a bad name for playing foul—and we can’t afford to have that reputation.”
CHAPTER XIX—HESTER FOULS THE GAME
Basketball is not an easy game to learn, but it is both a splendid exercise as played under the rules of the Girls’ Branch and a game of skill.
Because of the many rules, and sub-divisions of rules, the players must bring to the basket-ball court the quickest intelligence and a serious desire to excel. No laughing or talking is allowed during play. The success of the game is based upon the players giving to it their undivided attention.
It can be played by from five to nine players on a side, and the time of play is usually two halves of fifteen minutes each. Mrs. Case refused to allow her pupils—the girls of Central High—to play more than thirty minutes, and the younger girls could only play the game in three “thirds” of ten minutes each, with five or ten minutes’ rest between each two sessions of play.
It was a rule, too, that no girl could play without a physical examination as to her fitness, and the Central High team—the champion team of the school—was selected from among the strongest and best developed girls. This team was now billed to play a similar team selected from among the older girls of the East High of Centerport, and as made up by the physical instructor, was as follows:
Jess Morse, goal keeper
Celia Prime, right forward
Mary O’Rourke, left forward
Hester Grimes, forward center
Laura Belding, jumping center
Lily Pendleton, back center
Bertha Sleigel, right guard
Nellie Agnew, left guard
Roberta Fish, goal guard.