With 5:19 left in Orlando’s game against Charlotte on Monday night, Natalie Sago looked over at Jenna Schroeder and gave her an encouraging head nod and a confident smile.
Schroeder nodded back before the clock started again.
“I was just thinking, ‘Five minutes, we got this,’” Sago said. “We’d been strong from the beginning, and we were going to finish strong.”
The two women have refereed countless games over the years. But this one — on a Monday night in late January — was different.
For the first time in the NBA, when one woman officiating the game looked over at her partner on the court, she would see another woman.
“Last night was not all business for us at all,” Schroeder told The Athletic on Tuesday morning. “That was a special night, a special game, and we appreciate that and are grateful for the moments we had throughout the entire…
