Special players make special plays on special days

Here’s a play that lives rent-free in my head.

This is from the final minutes of the Brock Badgers (white) vs Calgary Dinos (black) quarter-final match-up during the 2020 U SPORTS Final 8 Women’s Basketball Championships last March. That flash and finish by Melissa Tatti (OUA Player of the Year and U SPORTS First Team All Canadian) is one of the most incredible makes in a clutch situation I have ever seen.

On the previous possession Calgary’s Liene Stalidzane (Canada West 2nd Team) – their dynamic human inferno of a lead guard - had just made a clutch mid-ranger of her own to put the Dinos up by two. So Brock needed a hoop. Before Tatti’s absurd hoop-and-harm, Brock hadn’t scored on their previous five trips (their longest empty-possession string of the game). With the game slipping away, the basket was the definition of clutch.

Let’s breakdown the play.

After Tatti makes the pass to the right wing, she and a teammate go to set a double screen action on the other side, but it turns into an exchange of positions more than anything, as Kristin Gallant is more focused on a drive attempt then hitting the shooter coming up from the left side. The attempt is quickly thwarted as she is brilliantly cutoff by Calgary’s Laura Grabe.

With all that momentum to cut off the lane, Grabe loses her footing for a split second and Gallant uses that force against her defender, and has thoughts of a step back shot from just inside the three.

All this action and activity on the right side of the floor has done enough to draw the attention of the help-side Calgary defenders, enough for them to take their eyes off of their personal responsibilities and see if they will need to rotate. Note their eyes staring at the ball.

Take note of Brock’s spacing as well. Nearly textbook. Their team is littered with quality three point shooters that the defense needs to respect. This frees up driving lanes.

And cutting lanes.

Tatti has mapped out all of this – her defender’s turned head, the open lane, Gallant’s passing angle - and pounces on the opportunity to flash to the middle.

Grabe, who makes an incredible recovery, forces Gallant to abort her shot-attempt mid-sequence. In an instant Gallant turns from scorer to passer and rifles a pass to the streaking Tatti. A great read from a great player.

Tatti catches the ball and is immediately closed out on by the 6’2” Michaela Nieuwenhuiz. Tatti, who stands 5’4”, is undeterred and in one catch and rise motion hits one of the more remarkable and-1’s you will ever see. I mean look at the angle that she released the shot!

As the great Tim Micallef would say, special players make special plays on special days.

Tatti canned the go-ahead free-throw to put the Badgers up one. And after all that, there was still 1:25 left in the ball game.

The Dinos came down on the ensuing possession and scored on a driving layup by Grabe. Brock turned it over and suddenly the Badgers were down one again, without the ball, with less than a minute to go.

Brock managed to get a stop, Tatti grabbed the board, and then did this.

The handle, the speed, the body control, the touch. Just an incredible end of game sequence.

Brock got the stop (barely) on the next possession and came away with a 72-71 victory to move on the to the National semi-final.

I’m telling you, rent-free in my head.