An Unlikely Heroine Elizabeth Kibler 1Teresa gasped and sputtered as she ran a final lap around the gym. Most of the other players had already completed the half-mile run; however, Teresa was only now crossing the finish line. The other players had already moved onto ball dribbling and passing drills. Teresa’s older sister, Alisa, tossed the ball adeptly to the other players and expertly shot basket after basket. 2Because Alisa was the team captain, she was in charge of the practice. Looking over to her sister, Alisa waved for Teresa to come join the team. Holding her forehead in her hands, Teresa feigned a headache. Complaining about the pain, Teresa went to the locker room to take a shower. 3Teresa had planned to quit the basketball team for three weeks. She liked spending time with sister, but she just felt like she wasn’t cut out for basketball’s rapid pace. Teresa felt like a fish out of water. After they got home from school, Teresa knocked at her sister’s door. Slightly opening the door, she saw her sister shooting a miniature basketball into a plastic hoop on the wall. 4 “You caught me,” laughed Alisa. “I just can’t stop playing—it’s my obsession.” 5Alisa hurled the ball to Teresa who tossed the ball, missing the net. Teresa sat down somberly with a serious face and sad eyes. She told her older sister how she felt about the basketball team. Teresa admitted that she would like to do other things with her time and that she could never see herself enjoying the game. Frowning, Alisa asked Teresa to stay on the team for the rest of the season—only two weeks remained. With some hesitation, Teresa agreed to stick it out for the rest of season. 6Two weeks after the sisters’ conversation, Teresa and Alisa suited up for an important game. Teresa knew she would spend most of her time on the bench—as she usually did. As she watched her team struggle, Teresa knew the game was a rough one. Unexpectedly, Teresa observed a scuffle on the floor. Then, she saw her sister on the floor. Moaning in agony, Alisa grasped her right hand. Teresa darted over to her sister as the trainer inspected her hand. The trainer said that Alisa sprained her wrist and would be unable to play for the remainder of the game. 7The rest of the team looked astonished; Alisa was the team captain and everyone was lost without her guidance. Without thinking, Teresa started giving orders to her teammates—and they listened. After telling the players where to go and what to do, Teresa nervously sat down beside her sister and grasped Alisa’s left hand. As the buzzer was about to sound, their team made the winning basket. Teresa and Alisa jumped up and down. The other team members rushed over to them. They had won the game and Teresa was a heroine! 8A week after the game, Teresa again sat on the bench; this time, however, she was coaching. Read the passage on the left to answer the following questions: 3) What is the effect of the point of view in this passage? A) By telling the story from Teresa's first person point of view, the reader hears directly how she feels. B) By focusing on Teresa's perspective, the reader is shown how much she struggles with her decision to quit the team. C) By focusing on Alisa's perspective, the reader can see how disappointed she is when her sister tries to quite the team. D) By telling the story from Alisa's first person point of view, the reader can hear directly how angry she is with her sister.