Tears Flow as Game-Winning Shot Helps Town Heal

Sometimes, it's the little things in life that really matter.

And while I don't normally write about high school sports in my blogs and columns on this site, I am compelled to make an exception this time.

Last night, I was lucky enough to witness one of those rare moments, in a gymnasium in the small midwestern town of Grayslake, Illinois. It also happens to be where I graduated from high school.

Last weekend, one of the team's former star girls basketball players, Alex Scarbro, tragically lost her life. Alex played on the 2010-11 squad that made it to the IHSA Class 3A Elite Eight, and wasn't just a great basketball player.

She was a tremendous, giving human being.



So needless to say, last night was a diffcult time, as it was also Grayslake's first home game since her passing. The Rams were facing one of their biggest rivals in the Fox Valley Conference, Cary-Grove.

There on the Grayslake bench sat Alex's green jersey, with the #10 on it, the entire game. It had been symbolically placed there by Rams coach Steve Ikenn.

Trailing by a point with 11 seconds to go, the Rams threw the ball in-bounds, and what happened next was a bit of magic reminiscent of the same magic so many witnessed when Scarbro finished her career there two years earlier.

Junior center Morgan Dahlstrom, who was one of the few current players on the varsity roster the same time Scarbro was two years earlier, sank the game-winning layup with just 7.6 seconds to go, giving the Rams a one-point victory.

And even though it was only a regular season game, fans began storming the court as the final horn sounded in what suddenly erupted into a wild celebration.

There, in the middle of it all, was Alex's father Dave, who was understandably bawling his eyes out after the shot went in, making winners out of the Rams. One-by-one, fans began hugging him. Even those who didn't know him but only knew his family's tragic story were also in tears.

After making his way through the mob of fans, he found Grayslake Central's players waiting for him. They, too, were in tears, knowing what the moment meant to him, and the entire community, and formed a huge circle around him while also showering him with hugs.

"I knew Alex was gonna make something happen," Dave kept saying repeatedly, as tears of a momentary comfort streamed down his eyes. "I just knew it. I told everyone."

Minutes after the game, I, too approached Dave, who reached out and gave me a huge hug. I felt his warm tears on my own cheek as they fell onto mine. I could tell words could never capture how much the moment meant to him. As he let go of me, he just looked back and smiled.

I'm not necessarily one to believe in divine intervention in sporting events. But if ever there was a moment made for such a thing, Friday night was it.

Maybe, just maybe Alex was there, in that gym, giving the team an extra boost in the waning seconds. Maybe she was there to oversee such a beautiful moment. One that for at least one night, helped start the healing process for a small community that was stunned by her sudden passing.

Oh, the little things.

This one "little thing," which felt more like a small miracle, made me, and a lot of other people smile again, if only for a night.

And it was one tiny step on the long road to recovery for a town that continues to miss Alex. A town that will never forget what she meant to it, and continues to.