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Thump, thump, thump.
The background noise has changed in our Golden Valley neighborhood. There's not a thump anymore.
Missy Pederson no longer lives behind the back fence. That means she's not shooting baskets in her driveway, or with her buddy Patti Ryan in the driveway next door.
"Patti and I would play basketball in her driveway when we wanted to dunk," Pederson said. "That was an adjustable basket. After we would watch Michael Jordan on television, we had to go out and dunk."
Mostly, Missy's driveway basketball consisted of sending lefthanded shots at the basket - starting with heaves toward the rim as a tiny kid that developed into smooth, quick jumpers.
Among those taking notice of Missy's growing talent for basketball was Jill Riverso, another resident of the Golden Valley neighborhood. She would be pushing a stroller with her toddlers and go past the Pedersons' driveway.
"My wife would come home and say, `That girl up the street who's out in that driveway all the time - she's quite a shooter,' " Ted Riverso said.
Ted was a very successful women's basketball coach at the University of St. Thomas. He also started to take notice of the slight neighbor kid with the sweet jumper.
"I saw her out...