'Really Bad' High School Basketball Players Form Circle Around Teammate to Try to Even Up Score

A junior varsity basketball team in Lone Grove, Oklahoma, devised a comical play to help their team make a basket by forming a protective circle around a player so she could take a shot during a game on February 7.

Ella Mankin, who was on the court and originally posted the video, told Storyful this was the last game of the season and said she and her teammates wanted to end with a “fun” and “memorable” play.

“We are Lone Grove High School’s JV playing Madill High School’s JV. Three of us that are on the court are actually cheerleaders, and randomly joined the basketball team,” she said. “Since we are all really bad, we had a lot of time to sit the bench. I actually came up with the play on the bench, but it was originally as a joke.”

Mankin added that they had already tried the play once, but did it again as the person who was recording missed it the first time. She told Storyful in addition to herself, the other team members in the play were Torye Jones, Hunter Heath, Lauren Hacker, and Kallie Wallace.

While the team was able to score without a whistle calling foul, such a tactic would likely be called out by other referees.

Lone Grove High School’s JV team lost to Madill High School 36-19. Credit: Ella Mankin via Storyful

Video transcript

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