Homecourt Advantage (43 page)

Jeanne Moutousammy-Ashe, an amazing photographer and beautiful friend, thank you! You captured our good sides (with a little help from Angel).

Thank you Terrie Williams for your friendship, advice and unlimited resources!

And the BIGGEST thanks of all to my true partner in crime and best friend, Crystal McCrary-Anthony. Without you, girl, this would still be just another good idea.

R.E.

I want to thank God. Much love and respect to my family and friends; Kyra, my uplifting positive best friend, I’m so thankful there are people like you in the world; Dominique Sims-Lash, Nikki Doss, Leslie Danley, Carla Diggs—thanks for giving the first draft read; Lisa Handley Bonner, Shaun Robinson, Dena Dodd-Perry, Shauna Neely, Marcia Mackey and the whole Detroit crew, Jay Norris, Peter Simonetta and Patrick Orr, Kery and Samantha Davis, the Wu Clan, Fran Rauch, Tonya Lewis-Lee, Nikki Skalski, wherever you are, Sheree Carter-Galvan, for your friendship and great legal advice; Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, you’ve been a friend and mentor; Nick Ellison; Denise Stinson, for believing in the book; my editor, Carrie Feron, for your enthusiasm throughout the project; Sandi Gelles-Cole, for teaching me more about writing; Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, it was an honor and a privilege working with you; Angel Raphael Gonzalez, for fabulous make-up; Rita, we got it done with commitment, vision and professionalism. To My Friend up above for everyday guidance. To Monga, my first angel. To Vikki, for life.

C.M.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

This book was originally published in hardcover and mass market by William Morrow and Avon Books, November 1998 and October 1999, respectively.

HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE. Copyright © 1998, 2004 by Rita Ewing and Crystal McCrary Anthony.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition © NOVEMBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-06949-8

FIRST TRADE EDITION

The William Morrow hardcover edition contains the following Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ewing, Rita.

Homecourt advantage: a novel/Rita Ewing and Crystal McCrary–1st ed.

  p cm.

1. Basketball players–Fiction.

I. McCrary, Crystal. II. Title.

PS355.W54S33 1998              98-18175

813’.54—dc21                        CIP

04 05 06 07 08 JTC/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O.Box 1 Shortland Street
Auckland 1140, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com