Less than two hours before the Connecticut Sun's Aug. 1 matchup against the Minnesota Lynx, Theresa Plaisance was sitting in chapel, on the verge of making her first game appearance of the season. The chaplain took a moment to say a prayer for her grandfather.
She lost it.
While she was preparing for the game, her family was laying her grandfather to rest back home in New Orleans after he had suddenly died eight days earlier.
Theresa knew she had to pull herself together. Coming off of two back surgeries this past spring, she had barely done any full-court work in practice. But she knew her grandfather would want her to give her best effort if she got on the floor.
Her number was called late in the third quarter, as the Sun fought to hold their lead. Back in to start the fourth, Theresa posted up her defender, called for the ball, took two dribbles into the paint and sank a fadeaway, her first shot of the game.
It was only one basket. But after the events of the previous week, and really, her last nine months _ battling COVID-19 during her overseas season in China, undergoing an initial back surgery, contracting an infection that led to a second operation and now losing her most devoted fan _ it was a moment of relief, however fleeting.
"I knew she was going to hit it," said her mother, DoBee.
Her grandfather _ "Paw Paw," as she called him _ never missed those shots, traveling all over the country and even venturing overseas to support her, regardless of whether she played 40 minutes or rode the bench. Amid extraordinary circumstances, this time, she couldn't be the one to make the trip, the most important one, to say goodbye.
