They'd been together since she was a precocious freshman-to-be, playing with his sophomores and juniors during the summer. He was the iconic coach at Prairie High School in Vancouver, Wash., with the most state championships in history. She was a ballhandling magician whose feats and reputation preceeded her.

At first, it appeared a fairy tale ending was in store for the two. Prairie ran past Inglemoor by 15 points in the first round, Corral's 26-point performance prompting opposing coach John Augustavo to say she'd played "the best game I've seen a girl play in a long time." He said the Vikings wanted to contain Corral to 16-18 ponts, to which a reporter asked, "In the first half?" She'd outscored his team 21-19 in the first half. Augustavo laughed, saying, "That would have been nice."

In the quarterfinals, Prairie trailed Lake Stevens with less than two minutes to play. But Corral found teammate Lindsey Levanen with a beautiful back-door pass to restore the Falcons' lead, then sank two free throws during the waning seconds to ice the victory. The 5-foot-9 point guard finished with 28 points, in spite of a raging flu.

During the game, Aldridge's mother, Laverne Rupp, was told by a doctor in the stands that her son needed to keep the ailing Corral properly hydrated. Armed with that information, Rupp visited Aldridge on the Prairie bench.

The semifinals were not a laughing matter. Both Aldridge and Corral have their pre-game rituals. In the locker room, Corral and her teammates wrote on each other's shoulders the letters B, T, F and O - for "block the foe out," a reminder to rebound - on points of a cross, signifying a team goal to stay healthy. This was significant for Corral, who'd undergone two surgeries during the previous summer to repair ligaments in both ankles that her surgeon said had been damaged since the ninth grade.

Then the Falcons danced, every game, with Pit Bull's "Go Girl" blaring from a boom box. The song's lyrics include:

"I party like a rock star,
"Look like a movie star,
"Play like an all-star ..."

Oddly at peace with the loss, Corral dismissed talk of her illness, saying, "Michael Jordan was at his best when he was sick or had food poisoning," then regrouped and led Prairie to a romp over Pasco in the game for third place the next day. She finished with 15 points, giving her the Washington 4A career tournament record for scoring. She also claimed five other records, four involving the 3-point shot, a weapon she'd added to her arsenal during her career at Prairie.

It wasn't the happy ending they'd envisioned or hoped for, but it was, under the circumstances, happy enough. Determined to the end to avoid sentiment, Corral and Aldridge exchanged pleasantries, then Aldridge watched his star point guard walk down the hall and out of his program. He made a comment about her growth as a player, stopping in mid-sentence, blinked and smiled an almost wistful smile.

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