Texas State guard Kelsey Krupa was getting a little miffed.
Her team had just pulled off a huge win, the seniors were about to be honored at midcourt, and she couldn't locate her boyfriend, Matt Breneman, in the stands.
"He's about to miss my senior ceremony," Krupa said. "I was starting to get mad. ... Then I heard these gasps and I turned around and he was right there."
Breneman presented his girlfriend of two years with a diamond ring and a question.
Krupa was stunned, then her equally surprised teammates began screaming with excitement as Breneman got down on one knee and proposed.
Krupa said "Yes" and the players mobbed the newly-engaged couple.
"Everyone was crying," senior guard India Johnson said. "Everyone was just so happy for her. There were a lot of tears."
The proposal had been in the works for a couple of weeks, but only Breneman, Texas State coach Zenarae Antoine and associate athletic director Tracy Shoemake were in on the plans.
Breneman had made sure both his and Krupa's parents were there, but Krupa, her teammates and everyone else in the arena were taken by surprise.
"We didn't tell anyone at all," Antoine said. "It made it all the sweeter for everyone."
Everything went according to plan, starting with Texas State's 87-67 trouncing of rival UT-San Antonio, whom the Bobcats had never beaten in seven previous meetings. The win clinched Texas State's first winning season and first Southland Conference Tournament berth since 2008.
Had Texas State lost and left Krupa fuming, Breneman had a backup plan to propose to her after she came out of the locker room to greet her family.
The team did its part by winning, so Breneman left his usual spot in the stands during the final media timeout and circled to the other side of the arena.
"I wanted to walk up from the back of the court so she couldn't see me coming," Breneman said. "I knew if she saw me coming, she would know what was going on."
After the game ended, the team stood at midcourt while Antoine made an announcement over the public address system about a "special presentation." That's when Breneman walked to the center of the court.
"I was definitely shaking," he said. "I spoke everything fine, but I was shaking like crazy trying to get the ring box out of my pocket."
Krupa was at a loss for words — almost.
"I said, 'What are you doing?'" Krupa recalled. "I think I freaked him out. He said, 'Don't say that when somebody's trying to propose to you.'"
After the hard part was over, getting the white gold band (with a circular cut diamond, her favorite) on her hand was a little problematic.
"She had just finished playing and her fingers were swollen, so it took a little while," Breneman said.
Proposing on a basketball court was fitting since that's where the couple met when Breneman was a manager for the men's team.
The two were friends for a year before they began dating. After a while, it was apparent where the relationship was heading. Krupa's teammates started teasing her about getting married long before Breneman got her parents' blessing and cooked up the proposal.
"Everyone tells him, 'You were brave!'" Krupa said. "He knew I was going to say yes."
If there was a risk, it was that Krupa always had been against the idea of proposing at a game. She had seen proposals at professional games and couldn't understand why anyone would want to share the moment with thousands of strangers.
"All my life I kept thinking to myself, 'I do not want to be proposed to like that,'" Krupa said.
Breneman had other ideas, obviously. He knew that proposing to Krupa in front of her teammates, whom she considers her family, would make it all the more special.
"It was wonderful," Krupa said. "There's no other way I would want to be proposed to."
Krupa, 22, plans to graduate in December with a degree in elementary
education. Breneman, who will turn 21 in three weeks, wants to be a
basketball coach after finishing his degree in exercise and sports
science.
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith Whitmire
