After the letter reveals that she has been accepted, he finally vocalized that USC was also his choice. She also lets him know that she has a letter from USC and insists on him to open it. Later that night, they both speak outside her window and reveal to each other how their dates didn't meet their needs. They both show jealousy towards each others' dates and part ways.
Despite having a date of his own, Quincy notices her and immediately walks over to her to compliment her new appearance but doesn't hesitate to comment on her date. With nothing more than a new hair style and a dress, Monica shows up to the spring dance looking as beautiful as ever. She begins to recover from the loss with the help of her older sister Lena, who gives her a makeover and even finds a college friend to take her to her spring dance. Through soul searching throughout the season, Monica learns to control her emotions and leads her team to the state championship game, but could not lead them to a victory. Aside from her emotions on the court, she also struggles with the emotions she secretly still harbors for Quincy and struggles to express them as he is always surrounded by other girls. Monica, on the other hand struggles with her fiery emotions on the court, which often resulted in technical fouls at critical moments of games, getting benched, and eventually pushing away many potential scouting opportunities due to her lack of control. His popularity was not just evident on the court as he is extremely popular with the other students and could have any girl in school that he wanted, but he is still good friends and neighbors with Monica. Scouts have taken clear notice of Quincy, who many see as one of the top prospects in the country. The second quarter of the story begins in 1988, when both Monica and Quincy are the respective leaders of their high school teams. Although their first interaction results in Quincy angrily knocking her down during game point and accidentally scarring her face, they share their first kiss on the first day of school and end the "first quarter" of the story fighting in the grass. Quincy is shocked that a girl could ever love basketball as much as he did, and he is even more shocked when Monica plays so well. Quincy and Monica are drawn to each other instantly, sharing a love of the gam e basketball. Monica and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1981 from Atlanta, Georgia, and quickly became acquainted with their new neighbors the McCalls, a wealthy family due to the success of Quincy's father Zeke, the star shooting guard for the San Diego Clippers.
The film spans roughly thirteen years of friendship between childhood sweethearts Monica Wright and Quincy McCall. As the two struggle to reach their goals of playing professionally, they must also deal with their emotions for each other. However, Monica has to work hard to establish herself, while Quincy was born with natural star potential.
Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) have wanted to be professional basketball stars since they were kids.