I Got Ball

A shot at the pros. Everybody wants it, but these women have it. Faatimah was a pro point guard with a world of experience when she started her own league with a call-out for true ballers. But when her own future is on the line, can she deliver? And when a little girl goes missing in the desert, one woman is driven to find her… no matter what. STORIES I Got Ball A shot at the pros. Everybody wants it, but these women have it. Faatimah was a pro point guard with a world of experience when she started her own league with a call-out for true ballers. But when her own future is on the line, can she deliver? This story contains strong language, sensitive listeneres please be advised. A huge thank you to Faatimah A, Delia Moore, and everyone over at the Women’s Premier Basketball Association https://www.womenspba.com/ for sharing their stories with the Snap! A few months after the 2023 WPBA season concluded, Faatimah https://www.instagram.com/faatimah_a/?locale=es_ESsigned a contract to play professionally in Kuwait, where she spent last season abroad and continues to play for the Jamaican Women’s National Team in international competition. Delia https://www.instagram.com/d_moore_11/ended up having a successful rookie season for Ulster University in Belfast averaging Ten Points per game. She’s back in Ireland this season playing for the Limerick Sports Huskies. That piece was narrated by Brittani Burgess. https://www.instagram.com/bazeinteractions/?hl=enShe’s a documentary filmmaker and photographer out of Oakland who covers the WPBA . You can find links to Brittani’s work on all platforms at Bazeinteractions. https://bazeinteractions.com/ Produced by Bo Walsh, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot. Hunted When a little girl goes missing in the desert, one woman is driven to find her… no matter what. This story mentions domestic abuse, please take care while listening. Help is available, visit the National Domestic Abuse Hotline https://www.thehotline.org/ for resources. Thank you, Hannah, for sharing your amazing story! Produced by Anna Sussman, original score by Renzo Gorrio. Season 15 - Episode 53 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:07Glynn Washington?

  Okay, okay, it's almost, almost gift giving time. And because gift giving time is cold outside time, it's wanna stay by a fire time. I like giving something cozy. And nobody, but nobody does cozy like Quince. And what's better than one for them and one for me? Or you? Like my Quince organic gods dream quilt set paired with the brush cotton sheet set that I got for me, that I got for them, for me? Put it together, you've got cozy squared. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com.

• 0:50Glynn Washington?

  Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Snap Judgment. It's the best way to support the show.

• 1:05Speaker 01

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• 1:35Glynn Washington?

  Okay, so this place where I live, Oakland, California. It is or was until very recently, a sports city. The Oakland Raiders, Oakland A's, the Golden State Warriors, all called this place home because of the fans and the weather and the history and the swagger. It's like these teams form part of a collective identity of this place. Win or lose, up or down.

• 2:03Glynn Washington?

  But now, now, we have the curse. The curse of the worst, the very worst, most idiotic, confused, bumbling, venal, greedy lunatic sports ownership in the history of the lunatic system. What the Fishers did to the Oakland A's should be the subject of a federal criminal investigation with prison time. The Oakland Raiders snatched away in the dead of night, a slap in the face against all that is good and all that is holy. Steph Curry and the Warriors moved just 10 minutes away to San Francisco.

• 2:44Glynn Washington?

  Not completely horrible, at least that one was smart, but it still stings. We're reeling. We had the trifecta, and now we've got squat because billionaires ruined everything. But then, a little while ago, I'm reading the paper, and there's a big article about a woman, a hoopster, trying to make it into the big leagues, who sees that there's not enough spots in the WNBA to support her fellow athletes, this amazing pool of talented women, and she thinks, what if, instead of battling over the slivers from this tiny

• 3:26Glynn Washington?

  pie, what if she works to make a larger pie? What if the WNBA gets bigger so they can play here on a brand-new WNBA expansion team in Oakland and give us something to cheer for before the billionaires mess it up? What if? And what would she be willing to sacrifice to make it happen? Well, we're about to find out because today on Snap Judgment, we proudly present, I Got Ball. See, now, people ask me all the time, why I didn't join the NBA myself with all the fame and the money and everything.

• 4:10Glynn Washington?

  You know, I just decided public radio was a better fit. That's why you're listening to Snap Judgment.

• 4:31Glynn Washington?

  Yes, that dude from Ted Lasso said that football is life. And that's true. But basketball is heart and soul. You can go to any gym, watch a game, and you'll see a whole story. Heroes, villains, plot twists, the shocking ending told in four quarters. And because these real stories use real language, snappers, sensitive listeners are advised. Because photographer Brittany Burgess and snap producer Bo Walsh brings us a tale about one Oakland hoopster who has to do a lot more than just play ball. She has to create a league of her own. Snap judgment.

• 5:17Speaker 02

  Dilly O'Moore was playing in a college basketball game for Cal State University East Bay.

• 5:22Speaker 03

  Steps back looking for another. Oh, Dilly O'Moore.

• 5:26Speaker 02

  This wasn't just any game. This was her last game before graduating, and her team was on the verge of winning the championship.

• 5:35Speaker 04

  In that last year, I knew our team could make it. And there was a lot of pressure at the end of season for the seniors. Like, let's send them home on a win. Let's have them get a historic season.

• 5:47Speaker 02

  With her team in control in the fourth quarter, Dilly was having a hard time celebrating. She was accepting that this was the last time she would be lacing them up.

• 5:55Speaker 03

  More tries a three and raids it in.

• 5:59Speaker 04

  I was still having so much fun, so much passion for the game. I had worked my whole life on these skills and all the time and sweat and tears that I put into it. It almost didn't feel logical for it to just end. I was like, that doesn't seem like the way my life should be. And it makes the most sense that I should try to do something with it.

• 6:23Speaker 05

  No doubt about this one. They were dominant from start to finish, and the score says it all. Eighty, sixty-six.

• 6:30Speaker 02

  As the clock wound down, there was someone in the stands who could possibly give her a lifeline to keep playing ball after college.

• 6:37Speaker 06

  I was watching all of these young ladies compete, and I'm looking at, you know, who's getting ready to graduate. Okay, good to see you. Good luck today.

• 6:43Speaker 07

  It's gonna be a good game. I'm gonna be watching.

• 6:45Speaker 02

  Fatima is not from the WNBA or a scout from a European club looking for players. Who she is, is a woman who started her own professional league, the WPBA.

• 6:58Speaker 06

  Trying to reach out to players and see who all is graduating and let them know that this is another option for them.

• 7:06Speaker 02

  The WPBA is a space she created for people exactly like Delia Moore.

• 7:11Speaker 06

  If they're not WNBA training camp picks or anything like that, it's really hard to like figure it out. And that's why a lot of women, they get discouraged or they just give up on their dream of playing.

• 7:23Speaker 02

  The Women's Premier Basketball Association is a launching path for players looking to become a pro. And for women's basketball, there are two paths. If you make the WNBA, great. But if you don't, you have to go overseas. And Fatima created the WPBA for this reason.

• 7:40Speaker 04

  She was like, this is what the Women's PBA is about. This is where it's going. This is what it has the potential to do.

• 7:46Speaker 06

  We've had players that are first time players here in this league and now they're, you know, still playing professionally overseas just by being able to be in this.

• 7:55Speaker 04

  The idea of playing basketball in another country and getting paid for it as a profession, that was just not something I even had known was possible.

• 8:07Speaker 02

  Fatima told Delia to come to tryouts in Oakland.

• 8:10Speaker 06

  And I was just like, if you do X, Y, and Z, I will help you get overseas.

• 8:16Speaker 02

  Delia walked in the gym at the WPBA tryouts, just one of over 50 women competing for spots on eight teams.

• 8:23Speaker 07

  That's a big girl. That's how her mama played defense. Now I'm gonna hold you. Everybody's soft out here. I'm trying to get those cookies, you know, clamps, lockup D.

• 8:33Speaker 04

  On the basketball court, respect is not given, it's earned. And even in tryouts, there were those instances where people are trying to put you in your place, you know?

• 8:43Speaker 04

  You're not gonna hit me. You're not.

• 8:44Speaker 07

  Not gonna bully me without me returning her.

• 8:48Speaker 07

  I surprised myself honestly with how good I still am. Oh shit, girl. I like her.

• 8:58Speaker 02

  It's a battle of skills and resumes. Veterans versus rookies. To get a chance to compete in the eight-week league, the opportunity to show your talent, and just maybe get signed to an international pro team. Oh, they finna cook, girl. She finna eat her alive.

• 9:15Speaker 04

  I'm assuming I'm playing with, you know, some college people. And they're like, oh, no, I'm actually 27, played here, graduated here, and have played pro X, Y, Z years.

• 9:23Speaker 02

  Delia was thrown into it, and she was getting cooked. At 5'6", she was struggling to defend against bigger, faster, and stronger pros.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  You just realize that no one's here to take it easy. If someone's gonna score on you, they will. And then they'll tell you how bad you did trying to stop them.

• 9:43Speaker 07

  She's off! She's off!

• 9:47Speaker 04

  Everyone talks a little bit of trash. And, you know, they go at me, they score. And, you know, they're like light work.

• 10:02Speaker 02

  Everything is caught on camera in the WPBA for international scouts. And your highlight reel is how you land a contract.

• 10:08Speaker 04

  You know, it's a high level. I didn't want to go to the women's PBA and get dusted and have just film of me getting scored on.

• 10:16Speaker 02

  Delia ended up playing well enough to get drafted by the Bay Area Phoenix, one of eight teams in the WPBA.

• 10:23Speaker 07

  Thank you all for the love of Delia Moore.

• 10:27Speaker 02

  The season kicked off, and the lights were a little too bright on game one.

• 10:32Speaker 04

  I wanted to come in. I wanted to be a starter. I wanted to be one of the top scorers, one of the main contributors. And I think for me, it didn't happen immediately.

• 10:44Speaker 03

  Airballed that one.

• 10:45Speaker 04

  I think it was for me finding my role and sort of not shying away.

• 10:51Speaker 03

  Quickly the other way. More of three. Delia Moore from downtown. The CSU East Bay product.

• 10:59Speaker 02

  She managed to chip in seven points, but they didn't come easy. As Delia had to work twice as hard at this level to get a bucket.

• 11:06Speaker 04

  You know, I get my shot blocked or I get my pocket picked. And it's just a reminder that some of the moves that worked at the college level, they have to be faster, they have to be quicker. You know, they just have to be elevated because people at this level, they're older, more experienced, more athletic. And, you know, they'll expose you.

• 11:25Speaker 03

  It's Delia Moore, down the lane, to the hoop. Up the left, no good.

• 11:30Speaker 04

  I was hard on myself because I knew that where I wanted to be was not where I was. It was more of just like a frustration with where I was at. I just questioned, am I cut out for this?

• 11:45Speaker 02

  And if her opponents were getting into her head, in her next game, the rookie was about to match up with a familiar face.

• 11:58Speaker 07

  Hey, we got a talk. We got it right here. Yeah, we see it, we see it. Watch that handoff.

• 12:04Speaker 02

  Starting point guard for the first place Alameda Wolves was none other than the CEO, Fatima.

• 12:10Speaker 07

  More low, more low, more low.

• 12:11Speaker 03

  Fatima A, the CEO of the WPBA. And the CEO starts this game off nicely.

• 12:20Speaker 02

  Fatima is in her bag to start the season. She's played in seven countries for seven teams. And she's out here looking for her next international contract.

• 12:28Speaker 07

  The help, you're good, you're good, you're good.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  Fatima, no one picks her up, so she'll pull up and drain it.

• 12:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, you can't do that. Fatima's gonna make you respect that all day long.

• 12:36Speaker 07

  Literally finished my sixth season, getting ready to go and play for Team Jamaica soon. So even after that, like, I'm pretty sure I'm going back overseas. The deal is in the works right now.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  And the other players know, if you can ball out against the CEO, it could open the eyes of a scout.

• 12:56Speaker 07

  I love the challenge. It keeps me on my toes and I love the fact that they respect me enough to, you know, bring that same energy every single time out. So I don't even think of it as like a target on my back. Like, I know what I'm getting into every time I step out on the court.

• 13:12Speaker 07

  We're now fully underway. The Wolves...

• 13:14Speaker 03

  Wolves will side out deep in their own territory.

• 13:19Speaker 02

  Back in the game, Delia's Phoenix are trailing Fatima's Wolves by double digits. And Delia has not even been on the court. She was on the sidelines after leaving early with an injury.

• 13:29Speaker 04

  I had hurt my ankle in that game. I had gone out really quick. I had a few fouls and they put me back in. And I decided I was gonna play my heart out and I was gonna try to win. And I just, I went into the game. I immediately got a stop, a layup.

• 13:47Speaker 03

  Delia Moore able to cut it to a seven-point deficit.

• 13:51Speaker 02

  Delia got a stop on defense. And with ice in her veins, came back down court and hit back-to-back threes.

• 13:57Speaker 03

  Delia Moore. One-possession bowl game. These Phoenix just don't go away.

• 14:05Speaker 04

  I kept us in the game. And ultimately, I think we lost that game by two or three points. But in that game, I sort of proved myself and to other people what I was capable of. And that was a really great feeling to have.

• 14:18Speaker 06

  Hi, you're so cute.

• 14:21Speaker 02

  For every young player like Delia that walks on the court in Oakland, most have a dream of playing professionally overseas. But Fatima has been living this for a while now. And it's a lot more like a grind.

• 14:33Speaker 06

  Basketball is like my pride and joy. Like, I don't have kids yet, but basketball is just like what I imagine that feeling to be like.

• 14:44Speaker 06

  When I am not doing this, I'm, nine times out of 10, I'm overseas. So I'm not with my friends or my family or my, like, loved ones, really. How are you?

• 14:58Speaker 02

  Two months ago, she was playing in Ireland, averaging 25 points per game. But now she comes back home to Oakland and she doesn't even have a place to stay in her hometown.

• 15:08Speaker 06

  I feel like my life is constantly revolved around figuring out what my next move is gonna be. I'm 31 and I don't have, like, my own home to, like, just house my things. You know, I'm constantly picking up and moving into a different situation or asking friends or family if I can just leave my things at their place the time that I'm gone, because I don't have a solid place to hold my stuff. It kind of sucks, but it comes with this.

• 15:39Speaker 02

  Before Ireland, she was lighting it up in Spain and Mexico.

• 15:47Speaker 02

  Each contract is for one season. For Fatima, Europe is the dream. Pay is higher, the crowds are bigger. It's the highest tier.

• 16:01Speaker 07

  Overseas people just have so much more of a battle as opposed to like NBA and WNBA players. And if you don't love it, it's not for you. Like, this isn't for the...

• 16:13Speaker 07

  You gotta have a strong heart to be able to do this.

• 16:16Speaker 06

  My moving, bouncing and finishing?

• 16:19Speaker 02

  Part of the reason she created the WPBA was to keep her own highlight real fresh. She's 31 and playing with no guarantees.

• 16:28Speaker 06

  I want to be able to play in what I've created because it's just like...

• 16:34Speaker 06

  Who knows when I'm gonna have to like throw the towel in? And say that I just have to take on one role. So I'm gonna continue to do this until I can't anymore.

• 16:52Speaker 02

  Fatima started the WPBA in 2022 with just the money she had in her pockets from playing hoops by hustling side jobs like driving Uber.

• 17:01Speaker 06

  I had to like Airbnb my place and stay elsewhere so that I can make sure that I'm covering that rent. I had to make sure I paid for the gym for the season and paid for the officials.

• 17:13Speaker 02

  She hit up everyone she knew to let them know she needed help. Coaches, trainers, players. She's a boss for sure. Being able to put something like this together.

• 17:22Speaker 03

  Fatima is literally an example of what you learn in the East Bay, which is less hustle and make something grow out of nothing.

• 17:35Speaker 06

  How can I get these photos from you after?

• 17:41Speaker 07

  Now that I know that you're a sister, I'm with you. I got you. I appreciate you. Thank you. Let me text you right now.

• 17:50Speaker 06

  If you build it, if you build it right, they'll come.

• 17:56Speaker 02

  Players started calling when they heard the WPBA could lend them their next deal.

• 18:01Speaker 07

  I heard through the grapevine, the basketball world is a little bit small out here. So they told me about it and I was like, oh yeah, I definitely want to be a part of it. She's like, hey, we're going to have this high level basketball community in Lee out here. Would you like to participate? I said, hell yeah. My goal is just get out, see if you can still play and see what happens. And hopefully I can live out the dream.

• 18:25Speaker 02

  The WPBA hit the ground running in its debut season.

• 18:34Speaker 06

  I think for the overall package of the league, it looked amazing.

• 18:39Speaker 02

  There was an explosion of popularity of women's basketball that took place in 2023.

• 18:56Speaker 07

  How big of a deal is it for the WNBA that Stewie is headed to the Liberty? This is the super team era now.

• 19:02Speaker 02

  The iron was hot, in fact, sizzling. And Fatima knew there was no better time than now to get the league as much shine in the media as possible.

• 19:11Speaker 06

  My goal this season was to put the WPBA on the map. I'm like, okay, what can I do to bring a little bit more visibility to the league?

• 19:20Speaker 02

  Then around mid-season, Fatima finds herself on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

• 19:28Speaker 07

  Front page, like, that's crazy. Did I know I was going to be front page? No, I did not. I thought I was literally just going to be in the sports section. But, I mean, shit, that's amazing. Hey, put this on the fridge. I don't know. Famous.

• 19:47Speaker 07

  Like if anyone would have told me like I'd be on their front page a couple of years back, I probably wouldn't believe them. How are you? Congratulations. Thank you. You know how to go nationwide pretty soon. Shit, I hope so. I need some nationwide money coming in. Good to see you.

• 20:04Speaker 02

  More attention and more press is great, but the one thing Fatima can't get any more of is more time.

• 20:11Speaker 07

  I'm tired.

• 20:15Speaker 07

  Everything's good. I can go resume eating? Okay. Alright, everybody has a blessed afternoon. Okay, okay.

• 20:26Speaker 02

  Meanwhile, Delia Moore is now hooping at full speed.

• 20:31Speaker 03

  To Moore. Moore driving with the offhand. A great finish with the left. Have you a game, Miss Moore.

• 20:39Speaker 02

  She has quickly blossomed into one of the league's top rookies.

• 20:43Speaker 03

  Moore. Step through off the glass. Nicely done. Delia Moore doing work here.

• 20:51Speaker 02

  And with Fatima's help, Dilia built herself a highlight reel.

• 20:55Speaker 07

  Teams are now starting to look for players. I want to make sure that these players here are in the best shape possible to, you know, get picked up. So, you know, while we're working on their resumes, I'm uploading film. She's on a new team. So I played for Placetas last year, so she's playing for Placetas this year.

• 21:10Speaker 07

  100%. I'm really happy she took the path that she did and she's now...

• 21:14Speaker 04

  After working with her a little bit on that and talking to her about her experiences, I was able to figure out what sort of league was going to be a good fit for rookies.

• 21:26Speaker 02

  While trying to get Dilia overseas though, Fatima's own next opportunity just showed up as she's entering contract negotiations with a club in England.

• 21:35Speaker 07

  The team is over in Manchester. They're the Manchester Mystics over in the WBBL in England. Recently I've been able to, you know, speak with some of the people and the coaching staff, you know, everything aligned. I'm happy. I'm really hoping we can come to terms because I would really love to be there this year. And so, literally, it's just a waiting game. I'm not anxious like I would have been, you know, in the beginning stages of my career.

• 22:08Glynn Washington?

  When we return, the WPBA is blowing up. But can the league's CEO, Fatima, get her players signed overseas and still do what she has to do to land her own contract? Stay tuned.

• 22:29Speaker 03

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• 23:00Glynn Washington?

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• 24:41Glynn Washington?

  Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the I got ball episode. When last we left, veteran Hoopster Fatima took one of her league's rookies, Delia, under her wing to show her how to be a pro. But Delia's had to learn that this is not college ball. Can she keep her hoop dreams alive? Snap Judgment.

• 25:07Speaker 02

  Delia's highlight reel is making the rounds.

• 25:09Speaker 04

  Oh, Moore strips the ball away. She's gonna shoot three. She gonna make it? And she makes it!

• 25:15Speaker 03

  Beautiful bounce pass to Delia. Moore with the left hand.

• 25:17Speaker 02

  To Moore. Moore, crossover, dribble out to three. And pretty quickly, she gets a bite. A club in Ireland is interested in the rookie.

• 25:25Speaker 03

  I'm head coach with the Ulster University. I am also a basketball development officer with Basketball Ireland.

• 25:32Speaker 02

  They're looking for a guard and like what they saw from the East Bay prospect.

• 25:36Speaker 03

  So you're right up there in our conversation from a basketball skills point of view on what we're looking for.

• 25:42Speaker 04

  I think having a team reach out to me personally and wanting to connect was really exciting. I knew that they liked what they saw, and if I could continue to be that player, then, you know, things would look good for me.

• 26:01Speaker 07

  I'm gonna let you keep that negativity to yourself.

• 26:05Speaker 07

  I'm not inviting that energy over here.

• 26:07Speaker 02

  While Delia is one step closer to being a pro, the Manchester Misses are cautiously waiting on signing Fatima.

• 26:14Speaker 07

  I'm expecting to just go out there and just have fun and yeah, I just want to give the fans something to watch, something to enjoy.

• 26:21Speaker 07

  Obviously, my future club is watching, so I gotta make sure I perform. So, there's that. Here we go. One, two, three, defense. Hey, who's here?

• 26:32Speaker 03

  Nothing there as Fatima Monra airballs that one. Fatima, oh, tough feed.

• 26:43Speaker 02

  The league is hot, but Fatima's play is not. Her stats have dropped, which isn't helping her case for getting signed.

• 26:52Speaker 06

  You are experiencing so much anxiety because you're just like, damn, what if I don't get picked up again for the next season? Like, are my stats good enough? Is someone gonna like take a chance on me?

• 27:02Speaker 07

  Hey, hey! Ah, my ball, my ball, right? Let's just stop talking about like what people are doing off their shot.

• 27:09Speaker 02

  The losses are beginning to mount for Fatima's Wolves.

• 27:12Speaker 07

  Shot!

• 27:14Speaker 05

  You don't assume the Wolves are gonna play this sloppy the whole game.

• 27:18Speaker 04

  Coach Frank Scott not too happy about that last play.

• 27:22Speaker 03

  We're not making the edge of the pass. Once you get the ball, if it's gonna take you longer than three seconds to make a decision, swing that motherfucker. Swing it when you see somebody over there, swing it. Way like y'all was playing the bum team.

• 27:32Speaker 02

  Fatima is the conductor and the engine that makes the Wolves go. But the pressure for her to play well for a new contract hasn't made coaching the CEO easy.

• 27:43Speaker 03

  She's been overseas a lot. She's very experienced. And so sometimes, you know, she can get a little big headed and we can go back and forth.

• 27:54Speaker 06

  This is fucking crazy right now. Ain't no fucking way.

• 27:58Speaker 03

  Fatima Amonra still on the bench for the Wolves with 1:46 to play in the first half. I think it's just more so of the minutes, you know, how many minutes she plays. So sometime when I pull her out, she's like, ah, but you know, it's like, we're still a team.

• 28:13Speaker 06

  Here we go, Wolves on three. One, two, three, Wolves. It's hard. Like, you wake up every single morning. Especially when I know it's getting closer and closer to that date where season's getting ready to start, or players are more likely to have already been picked up by teams. You're just like, damn, they got picked up, but I haven't been picked up yet. Or you've seen people that you've outperformed, and you see them with certain jobs. And like, I'm just like, why not me?

• 28:47Speaker 02

  With the season in Europe set to start in only a few weeks, Fatima couldn't have hit the wall at a more critical time in negotiations.

• 28:53Speaker 04

  Fatima pulls up. Shot's no good.

• 28:57Speaker 03

  And things are getting from worse to ugly. Fatima.

• 29:01Speaker 05

  Well, that would have been really nice.

• 29:03Speaker 06

  I talked to my therapist about this earlier this week, just, literally just not being in my head and playing. I kind of like psyched myself out and I just overthink, but I can either let it affect me, or I can just continue to just do me. So at the end of the day, I'm all I got.

• 29:23Speaker 06

  I hate when people move my shit.

• 29:26Speaker 06

  I cry often. Like, I'll have my moments where I'm just like, I mean, I've now been told to just let it out rather than keep it in, because I don't want to feel this feeling of just like, just being overly like overwhelmed. Y'all gonna keep playing with me after the week I had.

• 29:46Speaker 06

  Because you saw what happened firsthand today, and I sent you a text, so I just need you to have my back.

• 29:51Speaker 02

  Where Fatima will play next season is up in the air, but the rookie, Delia Moore? She just got some big news from Ireland. The Ulster University team in Ireland out of Belfast.

• 30:04Speaker 06

  They sort of made an offer for me and I have accepted the offer and I'm still waiting to sign a written contract that I should be getting, you know, end of the day, today on the week.

• 30:16Speaker 04

  That moment, I was just so excited and my parents were really excited for me and so were my sisters and in a way, I was like, I don't really know exactly what I'm signing up for, but I'm excited, you know, because you never really know what it's going to be until you're there. It felt like a dream, honestly. There's so many countries in the world, there's so many leagues, there's so many different ways this could have panned out for me.

• 30:44Speaker 02

  It's playoff time for the rest of the league, but Delia is headed out on a red eye plane to Belfast.

• 30:57Speaker 06

  She's been like a little sister to me and the city will love her, the club will love her, the people will love her, but again, she's there to do a job. So just reminding her of that so that she, again, once that season finishes, she's getting ready for the next job. But she's got it. It's on her now.

• 31:22Speaker 03

  And we're getting ready for the playoffs. It's going to be a really interesting, interesting Saturday here.

• 31:27Speaker 04

  Yes, it definitely is. I'm excited to see what happens.

• 31:31Speaker 02

  It's the first round of the playoffs and Fatima hopes to go deep and put all doubts behind her, but it's the worst time to go up against one of her star recruits, Mariah Cooks.

• 31:43Speaker 06

  I hadn't really played in a long time, so when Fatima reached out, I was like, okay, I don't know what you're going to give.

• 31:50Speaker 03

  Comes Mariah Cooks, one of the best players in the league. Great drive and dish shot fake, Cooks. Jumper good. Mariah Cooks in her bag.

• 32:03Speaker 02

  Cooks was the league MVP this season and the Wolves have no answers for her.

• 32:08Speaker 03

  Fatima, one of the, of course, star players for Alameda, right now understandably towards midcourt shaking her head.

• 32:16Speaker 06

  I'd talk it against any team in this league. I don't care who it is. We just have to show up ready to play and if we play to win, we will win.

• 32:25Speaker 02

  With nothing left in the tank, Fatima's season comes to an abrupt end.

• 32:31Speaker 03

  As the number four seeded Berkeley Royals upset the number one seeded Alameda Wolves. They take down the top.

• 32:38Speaker 06

  Mariah had a hell of a game. She came in, she gave us two K numbers. Was I a little bit salty? Yes, I was, but, I mean, good job to her.

• 32:51Speaker 07

  You know, I have little girls coming up to me after the game, telling me that they want to be just like me. Their dad's saying, hey, watch her. That's who you need to be like. Without this league, they would not have that opportunity to just, whether we continue with the relationship or not, a seed was planted in them. They see that it's possible.

• 33:13Speaker 06

  Tough crowd, I'm gonna go back over my corner,

• 33:14Speaker 02

  but this isn't right now. And I gotta give this up, alright? Good job, player.

• 33:20Speaker 02

  Good job, player.

• 33:23Speaker 02

  On top of being bounced from the playoffs, the Manchester Mystics have not offered Fatima a contract for next season. Wherever she plays, it won't be in England.

• 33:33Speaker 06

  Majority of the teams have already picked up the players that they want. And I'm literally just like scrambling, trying to like figure out what my next move is. It kind of sucks because I am jobless. I'm still looking for an opportunity, but I'm staying ready, I'm staying in shape.

• 33:50Speaker 03

  Three thousand up for grabs right here in the WPBA Championship. It's a good little crowd today.

• 34:00Speaker 02

  The gym is packed for the WPBA Championship. Fatima is looking like a CEO. Shaking hands, looking relaxed, ready to watch her league finals.

• 34:10Speaker 07

  Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the floor the founder of the Women's Premier Basketball Association, Fatima Gray.

• 34:23Speaker 07

  Welcome. Thank you guys all for coming out tonight. We appreciate it.

• 34:29Speaker 07

  I am happy that I finally can like take a breath. I don't have to like wake up at, you know, seven in the morning and feel this overwhelming feeling of like anxiety. All this hard work over the summer, all this work starting from like last year in like literally October. You know, this is, this is a testament of all that. So I'm just happy with how it all turned out.

• 34:51Speaker 07

  No, I'll get another chair. I don't want to, I don't want to make, you know, ruin the party right now. Oh, thank you. I felt that I had done enough work that, you know, week and a half leading up to the finals game to just, you know, finally just sit there and enjoy it.

• 35:15Speaker 02

  Did we not see the mismatch?

• 35:16Speaker 07

  I don't know. We did. Total vision.

• 35:21Speaker 02

  Fatima overlooks the scene from the corner of the gym. She watched as her league MVP put on a dominant performance.

• 35:27Speaker 03

  Bullying her way inside, Mariah Cooks.

• 35:31Speaker 07

  Watch the drop step. Yeah.

• 35:34Speaker 03

  Catch and shoot for Mariah Cooks.

• 35:39Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 35:40Speaker 02

  For the first time in eight weeks, Fatima can just be a basketball fan and sit back and appreciate the league she created.

• 35:49Speaker 07

  I don't know, I was just having like a little moment to myself. Even though I was sitting with friends, I was just like, I'm, I don't say this enough to myself, but I was just like, Fatima, I'm proud of you. Like, I'm really proud of all this work that you've put in.

• 36:03Speaker 06

  Are you happy?

• 36:24Glynn Washington?

  A huge thank you to Fatima A, Delia Moore, and everyone at the Women's Premier Basketball Association for sharing their stories with the Snap. We're happy to report that a few months after the 2023 WPBA season concluded, Fatima signed a contract to play professionally in Kuwait, where she spent last season abroad, and she continues to play for the Jamaican Women's National Team in international competition. And our rookie, Delia. She ended up having a successful debut season at Ulster University in Belfast, averaging 10 points per game. And she is back in Ireland this season, playing for the Limerick Sports Huskies.

• 37:05Glynn Washington?

  You can find links for Fatima, for Delia, and the Women's Premier Basketball Association on our website, snapjudgment.org. That piece was narrated by Brittany Burgess, a documentary filmmaker and photographer out of Oakland who covers the WPBA. You can find links to Brittany's works on all platforms at Bay's Interactions, or click the links on our website, snapjudgment.org. The original score for that story was by Renzo Gorrio. It was produced by Bo Walsh.

• 37:47Glynn Washington?

  After the break, another woman on a mission. Stay tuned.

• 38:04Glynn Washington?

  Welcome back to Snap Judgment. My name is Glynn Washington. Now then, you may know one of these people. People who can find a path that no one else can see. Sensitive listeners, please do note, this story includes situations of domestic violence. Listener discretion is advised. Snap Judgment's Anna Sussman has the story.

• 38:28Speaker 06

  In the still, early hours of the morning, in the Cottonwood Campground, deep in the Colorado desert, a tiny nine-year-old girl named Mandy quietly pulled on her sandals, opened the door to her family's camper, and tiptoed out into the vast desert. When the family woke up, they had no idea where Mandy was. All they saw was sand.

• 38:55Speaker 06

  Everything in me stopped. Everything goes empty. I felt a deep, empty dread. And especially for a child. Han Anyala was the first person to respond from the Joshua We got the knock on our door. I got sent immediately to the campground to try to secure the scene, to try to figure out if we could get a footprint, to do all the basic things that you have to do to try to lock it down. The first thing Hannah did was talk to Mandy's mom and sister about Mandy's shoes. What size were they? What did they look like? Hannah was able to find an imprint of Mandy's shoe pretty easily near their camper.

• 39:38Speaker 06

  She drew a picture of it, measured it, and then went searching for a trail of these tiny footprints to lead her out of the campground. I went alongside the main road of the campground, about 30 feet out. Time felt split. It was absolutely racing like a freight train, on the one hand, with me being behind Mandy and not having a good track yet. And then the other piece of it, time was passing excruciatingly slowly while I was looking for that first footprint. It took less than an hour for Hannah and the tracking team to find Mandy's trail

• 40:23Speaker 06

  outside the campground. Hannah circled the first footprint with her tracking stick, a sawed-off golf club, and then she followed little Mandy into the desert, step by step. As the hours passed, we were aware of the time. What I think about in the desert is temperature first. It's going to start dropping quickly. That's foremost on my mind, more than anything else, is we've got to get to this child before she's facing hypothermia. After more than an hour of working the track itself and on her trail, we then had one helicopter

• 41:07Speaker 06

  in the air, and there was a fixed wing as well, which also was crisscrossing the area. They built a search base, emergency operations vehicles, a fuel truck. People were bringing meals in. It was a big effort. There were a lot of people. There were well over 100. Relationship with her in your head?

• 41:28Speaker 03

  You do. I build a relationship from the beginning.

• 41:33Speaker 03

  By the time I found the first footprint, I was as connected to Mandy

• 41:40Speaker 03

  as I could get to a person. And when I started calling her name, you're calling her Mandy, Mandy. She was not my daughter, but I felt about her as if she were my family. I was that focused on bringing her back.

• 41:59Speaker 06

  Here's where Hannah's story becomes incredible because her actual family, her son and daughter, were missing.

• 42:08Speaker 03

  By the day that we started this search for Mandy, my daughter and son had been missing for well over a year.

• 42:22Speaker 06

  Before she ever became a search and rescue tracker, Hannah led a very different life. She owned a retail home decor shop in Oklahoma, and she was in an abusive marriage. For years, she endured brutal violence at the hands of her husband, until the night she had had enough.

• 42:40Speaker 03

  He choked me in unconsciousness. Now, he had done that before, but this time,

• 42:49Speaker 03

  it hit me really hard that my two children were in their bedrooms in that house with him

• 42:55Speaker 03

  and that I was dying and they would have nobody then.

• 43:02Speaker 06

  One day later, Hannah hurried her son and daughter into her car with a backpack full of clothes and drove away into hiding.

• 43:10Speaker 03

  I did not expect us to survive. I believed that it would just be a matter of time till he caught up with us and did what he had always said he would do if I ever left.

• 43:21Speaker 06

  So Hannah sought protection from police, family service agencies, private security guards. But she says her husband found them over and over again. She says he hunted them.

• 43:33Speaker 03

  At several points in four different states, we had the police involved and had police protection. And the officers put me in a Kevlar vest, a bulletproof vest. They had a person stationed outside the house and inside the house, outside the door of the bedroom that my children and I slept in.

• 43:57Speaker 06

  Her ex-husband did get the kids. A judge allowed him temporary custody. She says the judge argued that wife abuse was irrelevant to child custody. He took the kids and he didn't bring them back.

• 44:11Speaker 06

  He'd have her daughter call Hannah and then snatch the phone away and say, "You'll never see your kids again."

• 44:19Speaker 06

  Hannah moved from state to state and eventually moved to the middle of nowhere, here, to the desert.

• 44:26Speaker 03

  The desert at first was off-putting because it was so forsaken and I did not really know why I had chosen this.

• 44:38Speaker 06

  She started to work as a volunteer park ranger, but it turns out, as a survivor of abuse, she was particularly well-suited to tracking missing persons. So she was invited to join the Joshua Tree Search and Rescue Team.

• 44:51Speaker 03

  As a battered woman and someone who was actively being stalked still, there are certain things that I pay more attention to than you would. So you don't necessarily need to see if there are footprints around your house, coming to your house at night.

• 45:08Speaker 03

  The level of vigilance that you have to have in order to stay ahead of somebody who's stalking you gives you really good skills, actually, for being a tracker. That kind of vigilance doesn't let a lot of stuff slide.

• 45:23Speaker 06

  When Hannah and her kids would come home at the end of the day, she would search the ground around her house for tracks.

• 45:31Speaker 06

  So the road has become a single track, rutted pavement. There was a dead coyote in the middle of the road. And here, there's just telephone poles and sand. And that's the house?

• 45:44Speaker 03

  That's the house.

• 45:45Speaker 06

  It's a nice little house. Is easily driven around. Right. You can see tracks and footprints all the way around. Looking for a footprint on hard-packed gravelly sand takes a mind-boggling attention to detail. Looking on the desert floor, all I saw were sticks and pebbles.

• 46:08Speaker 06

  Kind of right here in this two square feet in front of us, what do you see? Well, at least six different people have passed through here. See that people have stepped on, see this little stick right here in rock? That's been stepped on. I have to say, I see nothing where you're pointing right now. I just see dirt. Okay, you have part of a shoe here, um, and now, I mean, a grain of sand just fell down from it. Did you say a grain of sand just fell off of that rock? Yeah, it did. You saw a grain of sand fall off?

• 46:43Speaker 06

  Yes, I did. That's the kind of detail. It seems to be, to me, an awfully exposed place for a vulnerable person to go. It is extremely exposed, but when you are in a place like this, it is not easy to come upon me unawares. I see you coming from a long ways away in the desert. And it provided me safety at a level that I'd never had.

• 47:12Speaker 06

  But she wasn't entirely safe. She still couldn't protect her kids from everything. And even in the desert, her husband would manage to get the kids again. At one point, he took them from a court hearing and disappeared. There was a nationwide manhunt for her son and daughter.

• 47:32Speaker 06

  As ironic as it seems, when somebody leaves on foot from a place, I'm good at that. I can get out there and I can follow them and I would have a chance at finding them. When somebody drives off in a vehicle down a four-lane highway with two children in the car, you have absolutely no easy way to find them.

• 47:56Speaker 07

  Follow them and know where they're going.

• 48:00Speaker 07

  I was sad for them all the time, no matter what I was doing. I was absolutely broken and sad and scared for what was happening to them.

• 48:13Speaker 07

  For the duration of that search for Mandy, for example, it became, she was their child technically, but in a way, the stakes are as high as if it were my daughter out there missing and I was looking for her.

• 48:31Speaker 07

  I probably had been going maybe three hours because we hadn't been getting detail for a while. We were in a really sandy area and she was doing a lot of weaving in and out and around and so the direction was changing quite a lot, crossing washes and turning back on herself and all of that kind of thing. She was getting tired and confused.

• 48:54Speaker 06

  And then she looked up the wash to see a little nine-year-old girl trotting towards her.

• 48:59Speaker 07

  I heard her saying, "I'm Mandy," and she came into view. There was a general huzzah across the desert from people all over the place. I was just immediately sort of swept up in that she's safe. She's safe.

• 49:18Speaker 06

  But when Hannah walked back to her home that night, she was still without her kids.

• 49:24Speaker 07

  It didn't help my children a bit what I did that day. And my children were still not out of danger and I had not one wit of skills more to be able to get them out of danger.

• 49:39Speaker 06

  Eventually, her husband dropped her kids off at her door, only to take them again years later. The last and final time he took them, local detectives in the sheriff's office issued an interstate APB for her missing kids. While police across the country were searching for her son and daughter, Hannah waited by the phone.

• 50:00Speaker 07

  It was a chilly day here in the high desert. I had not been able to focus very well with the children being gone. I got a phone call from the investigator's office that they had located my ex-husband in another state and they arrested him and then went in and the children were not there.

• 50:25Speaker 07

  Always before, when my children had been missing, I felt that they were alive in the world. When I got that phone call that he'd been found and they had not, I did not have that feeling. I was completely empty. And I went outside in the desert. I stood there. I listened. I sat for long hours just on the ground, just sat down on the ground. I didn't track. I didn't think about tracking. I was just empty because I couldn't feel them anymore. It was a message on my answering machine.

• 51:04Speaker 07

  And the blinking light on my answering machine always signaled terror to me. But it took me some time to get to the machine and actually press the button and to listen to it. And they had left a message from the district attorney's office and the investigator saying, "We found your children. We found your children. They were alive." And I just stood there, empty and weeping. If this were some versions of Hollywood, it would have been tracking that brought my children home.

• 51:47Speaker 07

  The kind of tracking that I do is very simple, very down to earth. It is step by step. But none of those skills, except the practice of tracking itself, helped me with my children. The practice of tracking kept me alive and gave me hope.

• 52:24Glynn Washington?

  Big thanks to Hannah N'Golo West for sharing her story at the SNAP. And if you are wondering, Hannah's children are grown now and all relatively safe. Read more about Hannah's amazing story on our website, pointlastseen.com. And heads up, Hannah's website has links to resources for people suffering from domestic abuse. Original score for that story was by Renzo Goryo. It was produced by Anna Sussman.

• 52:57Glynn Washington?

  Understand, if you missed even a moment, know that the SNAP Judgment Storytelling Podcast awaits your ears each and every week. Or you can walk the shadowlands with our evil twin podcast, Spooked, or you can hear amazing tales from the African continent from Mind Your Own with Lupita Nyong'o, all available wherever you get your podcasts. KQD in San Francisco is SNAP's orbiting hall of justice. SNAP is brought to you by the team that can't dribble a basketball to save their lives. Except, of course, for the uber producer, Mr. Mark Ristich. He's from Michigan, too, and Missy Gander's can't hoop.

• 53:38Glynn Washington?

  Others Nancy Lopez, Pat McMillan Miller, Anna Sussman, Renzo Goryo, John Facio, Shayna Sheary, Taylor Decot, Flo Wiley, Bo Walsh, Marissa Dodge, David Exame, and Regina Mediacco. And this is not the news. No way is this the news. In fact, your basketball gym, to give you the award for the person who talks the most stuff but has the least stuff to back it up, I refuse to accept this award, by the way. But even then, you would still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is P-R-X.