Ten thousand people stared at the girl in the hot pink sunglasses. She wore gray for brain cancer awareness, like most of her fans, and blue Nike high tops, like the rest of her team. She smiled and waved to familiar faces.

The bright lights, the loud noises of this arena – they could trigger headaches. She wore the sunglasses to dim the glare and hot pink earplugs to dampen the sound, but she worried this crowd would think she wanted to look like a celebrity.

Through the earplugs, she heard the muffled voice of the announcer: “Five-foot-eleven forward from Greendale, Indiana…”

The crowd’s roar drowned out her name. She didn’t want to look like a celebrity, but there was no question: Lauren Hill was the star of this show.

She had been dreaming of this day for months: the first game of the season for her team, Division III Mount St. Joseph University, and the opposing Hiram College. The first college game of her life.

She had been practicing this play for weeks: a left-handed layup, a shot that not long ago seemed simple. Though she is right-handed, it was designed for her left side because her brain cancer has weakened the right. Nothing is simple anymore.

Still, Lauren was determined to make this shot. She slipped off her sunglasses and joined the other nine starters on the court. She pulled up her kneepads on each leg and took a deep breath. The whistle sounded.

Mount St. Joseph won the tip. One pass, then another. Only seconds had clicked by before Lauren found herself holding the ball under the left side of the basket. Eyes raised, she lifted her left knee along with her left arm, then let the ball fly.