Off the Rim

Chris Skallerup yearns to be more than a benchwarmer on the Oak View Middle School basketball team. To improve his game, he turns to one of his best friends, the high-scoring star of the middle school girls’ team, Greta "Gretzky" Pemberton. But, it’s Greta’s mom—who was a high school basketball star without ever making a basket—who teaches him that defense is just as important as offense to a team’s success on the court.

With the help of Greta and her mom, Chris begins to change his defensive strategy and successfully learns to keep his opponents from scoring. To his surprise, Chris becomes a valuable player on the school team while hardly scoring at all.

In the sports history epilogue, readers learn about the development of women’s basketball and the teamwork-building six-on-six game.