Jamila Wideman

Jamila is listed by many independent sources as one of the best point guards in the nation. She knows that she's overshadowing some of the other players, particularly her good friend Jen Pariseau. However, she feels a burden that the rest of them don't know: She feels like the success or failure of the team is on her exclusively.

A mixed race girl, she doesn't identify with either group. Her father John is a novelist, a winner of two PEN/Faulkner awards, who speaks at prestigious events, and has met people like Nelson Mandela. Her mother, Judy, is a lawyer.

Jamila makes the point of reaching out to Jen to end the rivalry, whether it is real or invented by onlookers. As she later says in Chapter 7: “There was a clear understanding that from that point on we were working together. I didn't need her to...