The basketball team is thrown into chaos when new transfer Julie Connor tries out for the boys' varsity basketball team, prompting resentment from Team Captain Chris Atwater and jealousy from Head Cheerleaner Mary Beth. Meanwhile Coach Bill Fuller adjusts to his new job, and his new team manager, the enthusiastic Samantha. Danny, Earl and Michael are also introduced.
Mary Beth goes ballistic when she begins to suspect (incorrectly) that Chris and Julie have feelings for each other, leading to a fight between Chris and Mary Beth. Meanwhile, Danny tries to tell Julie that he likes her, but fails everytime.
It's Julie's first game with the Deering Tornadoes and the press are having a field day due to the fact that she is the first female on a boy's basketball team - but when Julie's attention turns to her own fame, her teammates begin to resent her. Meanwhile, Earl gives Mary Beth a pig in return for saving his life!
Michael's ego is crushed after he misses two free throws causing Deering to lose a big game, and he struggles with his loss of self-confidence until he gets a surprise visit from his idol, Detroit Piston's star Grant Hill (in a cameo role) who gives him a word of advice. Meanwhile, Samantha gives Danny lessons on how win Julie's heart, but it's Sam who falls for Danny.
When Coach Fuller introduces a different line-up to improve the team's performance, Chris quits as captain becasue he doesn't like his new lower scoring guard position - only to be replaced by Danny who lets it go to his head! Meanwhile, Michael takes a job at Earl's farm with... disappointing results.
Earl must pass a history test...otherwise he won't play in the crucial game against rival Dover high - sadly for Earl, he gets distracted by the advances of Linda Cantrell, whose motives in going after Earl may be less than pure. Meanwhile, Danny and Julie engage in a ""prank war"".
Chris and Mary Beth don't seem to agree on anything in their relationship, and the situation only becomes worse when Mary Beth goes out on a date with an old schoolmate without telling Chris! Meanwhile, the team heads to Coach Fuller's to watch a Tyson fight on a Saturday, which presents a problem for Danny who usually goes out on a date with Sam on Saturday nights.
Michael runs against Mary Beth for 'Student President', in order to save Earl's ""Future Farmers"" club from Mary Beth's pals who plan to replace it with the ""Gold Card Club"". Meanwhile, Chris and Julie bet on which of the attractive female teachers Coach Fuller will ask out on a date.
After an unexpected loss, the gang argue with one another but when a blizzard hits, everyone, except Michael, gets trapped in the gym over the weekend, including Mary Beth who is the ""parent"" of a baby doll for a class project. Meanwhile, Julie tries to cool things off with Chris because ""teammates can't be together""!
When Mary Beth's dad forces her to get a job, she decides to be the manager at the 'Sports Shack' store, where most of the gang work. Meanwhile, a visit by Russian exchange students brings romance for Earl but headaches for Michael, who just wants a ""Russian babe"", but ends up with more than he can handle.
Danny's parents are out of town so he stays with Coach Fuller... Unfortunately for Coach Fuller, Danny ends up inviting nearly the whole school over!
When Mary Beth finds out that Julie and Chris have been secretly dating, she tries to hide her true feelings for Chris, until Earl inspires her to write a poem about her broken heart.
Julie is annoyed when Chris resorts to an old habit to play well in the championship tournament... A good luck kiss from Mary Beth! Meanwhile, Danny is having a hard time saying the ""L"" word to Sam.
It's the start of a new school year at Deering High: Michael, Chris and Earl have left, as well as Sam who's gone to college in Chicago. New recruits are recruited into the team by new team manager, Mary Beth.
Julie has a crush for new teammate Josh Sanders, but when she begins to think that boys don't notice her, an identity crisis means she quits the team! Meanwhile, when Danny, Teddy and Michael insult the cheerleaders, Mary Beth and Amy punish them by getting all the other girls at Deering to stop talking to them until they apologize.
Everyone is excited about the Harvest Moon Dance, especially Danny who will be reunited with Sam. Mary Beth and Vince insult each other over their choices for the dance. Amy tries to convince Teddy to be the DJ for the dance. Danny is upset to receive a letter from Sam telling him that she's found another love
At tryouts, Teddy takes a liking to one of the girls there, Tracy. Josh, Danny, and Vince sense this but Teddy tells them that there's one drawback. He's never asked out a girl before because he thinks he's ""the fat kid whose everybody's friend"". So, the gang try to help him build up his confidence. Meanwhile, Julie's constant ""baby"" talk to Josh is driving him nuts!
When Mary Beth has the locker room painted a pink color, Vince gets back at her with a nasty note, which leads Mary Beth and Vince to take part in an escalating war of retaliations against each other. Indeed, they get so out of hand that the gang has to interviene. Meanwhile, Julie tries to avoid having a surprise party for her birthday.
When Vince hears about a basketball training camp hosted by Coach Fuller and NBA star Muggsy Bogues, he is willing to do anything to get in... including taking steroids!! Meanwhile, the rest of the gang are filming an alien invasion movie called ""Zeltoid Hunters"".
As we start, the gang has all been benched by Coach Fuller, and, in flashback, we soon find out the reason: the gang had obtained some fake I.D.'s to get into an over-21 club to see a band, and, while there, Josh, Mary Beth and Amy had gotten into some alcohol, while Vince had gotten into a fight.
The gang decide to each sacrifice an important personal item for a charity drive - when Mary Beth gets mugged for her efforts, her (somewhat justifiably) uncharatable comments cause Josh to go ballistic.
It's time for the Mayoral Election and nobody is really interested except Danny, who has a love of polictics. Amy soon becomes interested when she sees one of the candidates John Kent! Meanwhile, the basketball team challenges the football team to various competitions when they accuse the gang of being 'wimps'.
When Mary Beth begins to resent the fact that her father is not spending enough time with her, she starts dating Vince to get his attention. Her plan backfires however when Vince begins to fall for her! Meanwhile, the team is pysched out when they have to play (and beat) undefeated Remington High to get into the play-offs.
When Teddy's dad, NBA superstar Theodore Brodis, Sr. moves to Indianapolis after retiring from the NBA, Teddy has high hopes that he and his dad will finally be a family... but will his dad's criticisms soon enfuriate Teddy? Meanwhile, the team gets ready for a 3-point shoot-off.
Julie gets jealous of a new waitress called Nicole. Meanwhile, Mary Beth tries to teach Vince how to dance, with painful results.
It's the last regular game of the season - the one which will decide if Deering gets a spot in the play-offs. Julie is made an incredible offer: the chance to play pro-ball in Italy, forcing Julie to decide between playing pro in Italy and completing school.
After Amy and Josh leave Deering, a new cheerleader, Kristy Ford, and a new player, Michael Manning, come to Deering. Michael's a great player, but Julie expects to be elected team captain and is extremely hurt when the rest of the team choose Michael over her. Meanwhile, Mary Beth reveals that she kissed Ryan Parker while at space camp.
Mary Beth purchases sport bags for the team that cost $1,000, not realizing that the amount is the team's budget for the entire year. After not being able to return them because they're monogramed, Coach Fuller tells her that she's going to have to pay for them. Her father refuses to loan her the money, so she gets a job at the Stadium working with Tom, one of Deering's former players. But when Tom starts harrassing her, Mary Beth doesn't know what to do.
The Tornadoes are up against Lynwood for the first game of the new season, and Deering has a new Vice Principal, Ms. Williams, who turns out to be Coach Fuller's ex-fiance. After Michael encourages the team to skip Study Hall to practice, they are given detention two days before the game. Then after losing his temper with Ms. Williams, Michael gets suspended from the game. Coach Fuller tries to work out a solution with Ms. Williams so that while the team gets punished, they can still play.
During a game against Montrose, Danny gets into a verbal fight with a bully. So, he, Michael, Teddy, and Vince start taking karate lessons to learn how to fight. Meanwhile, the Montrose and the Deering cheerleading teams have a prank war.
Teddy has secretly started smoking, using the excuse that it wants to use it to curb his appetite. But when Coach Fuller and Teddy's teammates catch him smoking, he's kicked off the team. However, when Teddy sees his little brother carrying the same brand of cigarettes that he's been smoking, he makes up his mind to try and quit. But kicking the habit doesn't prove to be such an easy task. Meanwhile, Kristy scoffs at superstitions when she walks under a ladder in the gym. But immediately afterward she has a run of bad luck that makes her think she really may be cursed.
Coach Fuller not only needs to be dropped off at the airport, but he needs someone to look after his car. He gives Julie, Vince, Danny, and Teddy a long list of rules and entrusts the car in their care. The gang later attend a frat party and when it's time to leave, find out that the punch they were drinking was spiked and that they're too drunk to drive. They leave Coach Fuller's car parked at the fraternity overnight, with the plan to come back to pick it up, only to find it missing the next day.
When her teammates discover that Julie is dating Jason Redman, a player from a rival team, Mary Beth tries to arrange a get-acquainted dinner with all of the guys. However, things don't go smoothly when the Deering guys practically refuse to get to know Jason. Meanwhile, Teddy tries to teach Kristy how to drive in preperation for her driving exam.
A talent scout from the University of Arizona goes to Deering to check out Michael. While practicing with Julie, Michael hurts his ankle. Lying to Julie, he says that his ankle is fine, but is secretly taking pain killers and decides to continue his plan on playing for the scout. Meanwhile, Kristy tries to teach Mary Beth the bones in the human body.
After Vince's little brother, Nicky, returns from a year in France, he's changed. He used to share interests with Vince, but now likes writing poems and other hobbies that Vince doesn't find suitable for a D'Amata. After Vince tries everything that he can think of to get his brother to return back to normal, Nicky thinks that he should just go back to France where he'll be accepted.
The team goes to California for a tournament, and Kristy gets a call from her mother. It turns out that Kristy's birth mother lives in California and since they would both like to finally meet each other, they set up a lunch date. They get along so well that her birth mother asks her to move in with her, leaving Kristy with an incredibly hard decision to make. Meanwhile, Vince and the guys enter a game show looking to win prizes and later find out that it's a dating show. Vince is hesitant to go because of Mary Beth, but does anyway and ends up winning the date.
In California, Julie and Teddy end up being the only ones practicing when the rest of the team go with Mary Beth to watch for celebrities at their hotel. When Julie and Teddy take on two guys in a two-on-two basketball game, an onlooker makes a bet on Julie and Teddy's team and ends up winning. Looking to pay for their room service bill, Teddy and Julie go back and bet a $100 that they can win another game. Not only do they lose their money, but they find that they were being set up all along. Meanwhile, Vince finds Mel Gibson's wallet at the hotel.
Coach Fuller desperately wants to beat his long time rival's team in the upcoming playoff game. Meanwhile, Julie and Kristy compete for the attention of Scott, a cute guy that works at the hotel the team is staying at.
When Mary Beth enters a modeling contest, she becomes very self-concious about her looks. And when she doesn't win, she starts talking about plastic surgery to make herself look perfect. Kristy goes to the doctor's office with her. While they're having their consultation, Vince goes into the waiting room and sees a girl whose face is wrapped up in bandages and thinks it's Mary Beth. He tells her that she perfect the way she is and doesn't need surgery, while the real Mary Beth listens on.
Mary Beth volunteers to organize the school's beach dance and Vince agrees to help her so that they can spend some more time together. Kristy is in charge of the school's blood drive, and Danny offers to help her in order to spend more time with her. But when a handsome doctor arrives to help out, Danny starts getting jealous of the time that Kristy is spending with him and ends up making a mockery of the blood drive during a segment being filmed for the local news. Meanwhile, after learning that Michael is afraid to ask Julie to the dance because he can't dance, Teddy tries to teach him some moves.
Danny starts to date a girl and after she seems to have to leave every one of their dates in a hurry, he starts to think that she might be seeing someone else on the side. It turns out that he's somewhat right. She has a baby. After discovering this, he decides to propose. Meanwhile, Kristy gets addicted to a video game at the Stadium and misses the photo shoot that would put the girls on the cover of Girls in Sports Magazine.
The gang volunteer for Deering's teen line, where kids call in to ask for advice. Teddy, or Tick Tack Jack as he calls himself, gets a call from a kid named Eric who says he wants to run away. Teddy breaks the rules and meets Eric in person to talk. He's able to convince the coach to allow Eric and his friends to play basketball in the gym during the evening, but it doesn't go as planned when the kids trash the locker room after losing the game. Meanwhile, Julie and Michael have feelings for each other but don't know what to do. They both call the teen line seperately, but get some not-so-good advice from Danny and Mary Beth.
At the ski lodge, it doesn't turn out to be a very happy birthday for Mary Beth when she finds out that her parents are divorcing. She cooks up a scheme with the gang to try and get her parents to fall back in love.
To try and make his dream of performing stand-up comedy come true, Danny signs up to perform at the ski lodge's comedy club. However, things don't go as he planned when he gets on stage and immediately freezes in front of the audience. Teddy rescues him and they agree to be a comedy team. But trouble ensues when their friendship is strained after Teddy gets a big head and starts to claim that he's the funny one. Also, Vince gives Mary Beth an expensive ring, but she loses it.
Julie runs into her ex-boyfriend, Paul, at the lodge. She decides to tell Michael about him, but is convinced by Mary Beth to keep quiet. After finding out who Paul is on their own, Michael and Vince befriend him and try to keep him busy so that he can't chase after Julie. Meanwhile, Teddy, Danny, Kristy, and Coach Fuller rescue a millionaire out on the slopes. Since she's rich, they expect a reward and start spending before they actually receive any money.
The gang are counselors at Coach Fuller's basketball camp. The kids arrive and only one is a girl, so Julie immediately tries to bond with her. However, Julie starts pushing her too hard. So hard, that she decides she wants to leave camp because she's not having any fun. Meanwhile, Mary Beth starts to receive love letters from one of the kids and Danny is terrorized by his group of campers.
While hanging out with Julie, Michael, Mary Beth, and Vince, Kristy starts to feel like a fifth wheel, so she borrows Julie's jacket and heads off to get some pizza. While wearing the jacket, she meets a cute guy who's immediately impressed that she's Julie Connor from Deering. Kristy's interested in him and doesn't have the heart to tell him that she's not actually Julie. Meanwhile, Vince gets Coach Fuller to buy hamburger for the big camp cook out from his uncle. They get a little bit more meat than they expected when an entire, live cow shows up at the camp and the guys try to keep it hidden from the coach.
In this clip show, Kristy writes a paper on how sports help to enhance personal relationships and she proves this to the team by looking back on things that have happened throughout the past season.
To win tickets to a concert, the gang enter Teddy in a pizza-eating contest. But when he can't get up the hunger to eat for the first time in his life, Kristy fills in and wins the pair of tickets. After receiving the prize, the gang is dissapointed to find out that the tickets are for a day that they have to work. But since Coach Fuller is going to be away for the day, they decide to bring the kids to the pizza parlor and take turns going to the concert. Everything goes smoothly until the coach shows up at the pizza parlor and after hurrying to get back to camp, Teddy, Kristy, and the kids get stuck outside during a tornado. Also, Vince uses a quarter worth $5,000 in the camp's soda machine and Mary Beth won't let him rest until they get it back out.
After missing an important free throw during a game, Vince loses all of his confidence.
Coach Fuller sets a curfew for the team before the big game. However, Teddy meets a girl and is invited to her sorority's party. He goes to the party with the idea that he'll only stay for a little while and get back in time for Coach Fuller's head count at curfew. But when the gang notice that he's not back yet, Julie, Michael, and Vince go to the party to get Teddy. After Coach Fuller shows up at the sorority looking for them, all four of them dress up like members of the opposite sex and sneak out. But Teddy still isn't finished talking with the girl that he's met, and everyone but Teddy makes it back before curfew. When Coach Fuller greets him, he lets him know that he's benched from the game.
The Tornadoes have made it to the Indiana State Championships, but trouble ensues when they find out that Southern Florida University is interested in hiring Coach Fuller to come and coach for them. Upon finding this out, the team lose focus on the game and worry about losing their coach instead.
New Coach, Mike Katowinski, replaces Coach Fuller - sadly the new team, which includes new team members Kenny 'Silk' Hayes, Rico Bosco, and Nick Hammer, isn't coming together so well. Julie notices that the new coach is treating her differently from the guys and is making her do less work, so she tries different methods of getting the coach to realize what he's doing. Also, Kristy gets a letter from Teddy saying that he and Vince are at the University of Southern Florida with Coach Fuller, Vince is dating Miss Florida Orange Juice, and that Danny is currently working on his stand-up at NYU!
Things just don't seem to be clicking with the new team members. None of the plays are working out smoothly and a feature on the local news makes the team seem as if they are totally unprepared for their first game. After seeing this, Michael talks about how bad the new guys are and is overheard by Hammer who tells the rest of the new guys, causing a rift in the team. Michael and Julie decide that it might be best to just pretend like they're the only two on the team during the game.
After finding out that the rival team of an upcoming game has a player that's HIV-positive, everyone but Michael wants to cancel. Michael brings his friend Joe to the Stadium to meet some of the Deering players, later revealing that Joe is the guy that's HIV-positive. After meeting Joe and finding out how normal he is, the Deering team decide that they want to play in the game. However, parents of other students complain and get the school board to cancel the game again. So the two teams try to have an unofficial game behind the school board's back and Julie tries to get over her fears about guarding Joe.
Hammer meets a waitress at the Stadium named Taylor and tries to get her to attend the school's upcoming dance with him. After she continuosly turns him down, Hammer won't give up and follows her to a homeless shelter, where he thinks she's volunteering. He later finds out that her family is homeless and living in the shelter. The gang decide to try and help her father find a job and donate the money raised from the dance ticket sales to her family instead of buying new uniforms. However, when Hammer announces the change in plans for the money at the dance, students demand refunds, and Hammer accidentally lets it slip that Taylor's homeless and that's whose family the money is going to.
After scoring low on the S.A.T.s, Hammer finds out that his scores aren't good enough for him to be able to be admitted into any of the colleges that he's planned on applying to. But when he learns that Duke University is sending a scout to watch him play basketball, he thinks that they won't pay attention to his academic achievements after seeing him on the court. Kristy tries to convince Hammer to take the S.A.T.s again, without much luck. Meanwhile, Julie and Michael's anniversary is coming up and when Mary Beth overhears Michael talking about buying a Ruby guitar, she mistakenly thinks that he's buying Julie a ruby.
After getting his first credit card to use in case of emergencies, Silk uses it a little too often and racks up a large debt. In order to pay off his bill, Rico, Hammer, and he decide to buy a television and raffle it off at the school dance. However, the plan comes to a halt when the TV gets broken in the school hallway. The guys use the team van to drive to Rico's uncle who can repair the TV, only to have the van break down on the way. They stop off to at an auto shop to have the van fixed, but Silk's credit card is maxed out and they can't pay for the repairs, leaving them stranded. Meanwhile, Mary Beth and Michael try and keep quiet about the fact that Julie has been named Indiana state player of the month. But when Julie and Kristy overhear the coach talking about a proposal (which is really for the announcement about Julie at the dance), they mistakenly think that he's getting married.
After being mugged in the parking lot of the Deering Plaza after work, Kristy gets nervous about being out alone. Not only does she take a self-defense class with Mary Beth and Julie, but she arms herself with pepper spray. However, after leaving work early and not waiting to walk out of the mall with Julie and Michael, Kristy mistakenly thinks Michael is a mugger and attacks him with her pepper spray. Meanwhile, Rico, Silk, and Hammer all try to get Coach Katowinski to use his extra Pacers ticket on one of them.
Rico starts smoking marijuana, which causes him to act goofier than usual. Not only does he start acting incrediby silly during serious situations, but he starts to play basketball horribly. The rest of the team cover for him at practice, but things get worse when Rico promises to fix the brakes on Hammer's motorcycle. He gets high instead and forgets his promise, causing Hammer to have an accident on his bike and end up at the hospital. Meanwhile, Michael, Mary Beth, and Kristy take Auto Shop hoping to get an easy 'A.' However, things go wrong when they install a new sound system into the teacher's car and end up locking Kristy inside the trunk.
After discovering that Kristy has a romantic interest in Hammer, Mary Beth tries to set the two up on a blind date. Hammer agrees to go on the date, but only because he thinks that Mary Beth is trying to set herself up with him. He's caught off guard when he finds that Kristy is his date for the evening and later tells Mary Beth that he's not interested in Kristy, but in her. Mary Beth agrees to go on a non-date with Hammer, planning on using the time to convince him that he likes Kristy. Things don't go the way she'd planned when Mary Beth finds out that she returns Hammer's feelings. However, at the same time, she doesn't want to hurt Kristy. Meanwhile, Coach Katowinski tries to organize a school dance with the help of the team.
The team makes it to the Tri-State final and travel to Texas for the game. At the hotel, Silk meets a beautiful girl named Rose. The trouble is, he sees her as she's getting out of a limo, giving him the impression that she must be pretty wealthy. Feeling like he has to meet her standards, Silk calls himself Kenneth Hayes III and pretends that Coach Katowinski's Presidential Suite is his own. However, he finds it hard to keep up with all of the lies that he's told Rose to make himself look better. Meanwhile, Kristy also finds a possible love interest at the hotel. She meets Antonio and thinking that he can only speak Spanish, tries her best to impress him with her not-so-great foreign language skills. However, Antonio neglects to tell Kristy that he's American and speaks English.
Mary Beth learns that if she wants to attend her dream college, California University, she needs to participate in more extra curricular activities. Aside from managing the basketball team and keeping up with school work, she joins the marching band, the debate team, and also takes a spot on the cheerleading squad. She's already incredibly busy, but after finding out that a new student council president is needed, she decides to run in the election. Trying to do so much proves to be a little too much for Mary Beth and she starts to crack under all of the pressure. Meanwhile, the Coach gets a new hot tub to be used only for sports injuries. When the Julie and the guys break the rules and use it for fun, Rico accidentally drops Coach's NBA championship ring down the drain.
Still in Texas, the team make it to the finals, but find that the coach of the rival team is Coach Katowinski's old assisant, who is now in a wheelchair. Coach finds out that the other coach might be able to get a great position coaching a college team, but it all depends on the outcome of the game against Deering, who is favored to win. Coach Katowinski feels sorry for him and gives the team the impression that he wants them to the throw the game. Meanwhile, Antonio tries to get Kristy to forgive him for pretending that he didn't know English.
Mary Beth and Hammer start having relationship problems when they disagree on their plans. So Mary Beth gives herself a make-over to look more like a biker to surprise Hammer. She and Kristy go to a biker hangout to find Hammer, only to find that they're at the wrong club and are alone with a bunch of tough bikers. Meanwhile, Coach Katowinski thinks about buying the Stadium. However, his new plans have the place full of senior citizens. Looking to get their hangout back, the gang try to convince him not to buy.
After Kristy and Antonio start dating, Julie finds out that Kristy has run off to a wedding with him- possibly her own. So, Hammer, Rico, Silk, and Mary Beth go to where the ceremony is being held to spy. Mary Beth, Rico, and Silk disguise themselves as nuns, while Hammer pretends to be a monk.
Rico meets a girl at the Stadium and asks her out. He's excited about their upcoming date until he starts to get self-conscious about being with a girl that's taller than him. Meanwhile, Mary Beth accidentally gets throws Hammer's lucky jacket away and it's up to her and Kristy to find it before Hammer finds out.
The gang return to camp, this time with Coach Katowinski. Julie soon realizes that her feelings for Michael have changed. After kissing another guy, she decides that she has to tell him before someone else does. Meanwhile, Mary Beth takes on a job that makes her Kristy's boss.
Julie needs to get a good grade on her upcoming math exam or be benched from playing. She aces her exam, thanks to Kristy who spent all of her extra time tutoring Julie. However, Kristy starts to feel jealous and underappreciated after everyone misses her decathalon because they're celebrating Julie's grade.
At camp, a new girl named Eve joins the gang, looking to be seen by college scouts. But while she's great at basketball and teams up with Julie, she's automatically jealous of Julie's ability to play. When Eve starts feeling threatened, she starts playing un-sportsmanlike tricks on Julie to keep her from playing in front of the scouts. Meanwhile, Rico, Hammer, Michael, and Silk try to catch whoever is stealing items from their bunk.
After getting a bad report card, Michael is afraid to tell his dad because he might not be allowed to play basketball anymore, even though the team's one game away from the playoffs. Michael becomes unbelievably frustrated and not only is his relationship with his father strained, but his attitude costs him his spot on the team. Meanwhile, Kristy and Mary Beth compete in a one-on-one basketball competition in order to win a car, straining their friendship.
Kristy takes the job of being the nurse's assistant at camp. When she makes a mistake treating Rico's bee sting, nearly killing him, she loses all of her confidence. However, when a tree falls on Michael's arm, she has to learn to trust herself again and help. Meanwhile, Julie and Mary Beth try to pull a prank on the guys and scare them.
The tornadoes head to the sate basketball championships, only to find that their first game is against the team with the best player in Indiana. Meanwhile, Mary Beth convinces Kristy to play in a pool tournament to win a team present for Coach, only to end up facing him in the finals.
The Deering team travel to New York after winning a trip. Hammer wants to look up his old girlfriend, Cindy, and Mary Beth instantly feels pangs of jealousy. She allows him to but reaches her limit when she finds out that Hammer's ex-girlfriend is a teen model, and a magazine wants Cindy and Hammer to pose as a couple for an upcoming magazine cover. The girls all crash a business party to spy on Hammer, watching him as he's with Cindy. When Mary Beth thinks she sees something going on between the two, she ends up ruining the party and getting Hammer fired. Meanwhile, Rico, Silk, and Michael get into a food fight at a Knicks game and decide to get revenge on the Knicks fan, only to find that he's a friend of Coach Katowinski's.
After the Tornadoes make it to the sate championship, Hammer gets benched when his drug test results come back positive for steroids. Even though Hammer swears that he's never taken steroids, Silk and Rico refuse to believe him and blame him for losing the game. Meanwhile, Kristy meets an artist who asks her to pose for him. She does, but only to find that he's painted her head on a naked body. Kristy and the girls plan to alter the painting before it's featured in a show.
Mary Beth gets a job working as at a department store in the mall to come up with ideas for the teen department. But Mary Beth is shocked to find that her boss is not just using her ideas, but taking credit for them as well. Meanwhile, the Coach plays Santa Claus at the mall, with Rico, Silk, Hammer, and Michael as his elves. However, things go wrong for them when they end up in jail when the police are looking for thieves dressed similarly.
While in New York, Rico meets with his grandfather who wants to spend the holidays with him. However, Rico's embarrased by him and lies to him saying that the team has to go back to Indiana early and won't be around the city for the holidays. During the gang's Christmas Eve party, Rico feels too guilty and tells everyone what he did. They take the party on the road and search the subways trying to find Rico's grandfather at work.
In this clip show, the Deering game reminisce about the past year and all of the important events that have taken place. Meanwhile, Mary Beth refuses to leave her room after a famous hairdresser ruins her hair.
Hammer is offered an out of state scholarship and is forced to leave the team and Mary Beth. Meanwhile, Antonio moves to Texas to be with Kristy, and Rico has already left the team to persue wrestling. Replacing him is new player Eugene Brown.
After becoming the manager of Michael's band, Mary Beth tries to talk to a record executive. However, she finds that he's not willing to listen to anything that a female manager has to say. Meanwhile, the team thinks that Coach Katowinski might be leaving to take another job and come up with a plan to make him stay.
Julie starts dating an older guy named Jason. He continually encourages her to do more mature things, like stay out late on school nights. Because she's still a high school student and he's not, Julie feels like she can't say no because Jason will think that she's too much of a kid. While they attend a school dance together, Jason blows off the actual dance and ends up drinking in the hallway. When he's ready to leave and wants to drive Julie home, Kristy and Mary Beth don't think it's a good idea because he's been drinking. Julie goes anyway because she's afraid to say no. She and Jason end up getting into a car accident. Luckily, neither of them are hurt badly, but Julie injures her shoulder and can't play in Deering's game.
Eugene takes up an interest in skateboarding and starts to act like it's more important than basketball. After the Coach won't cut Eugene any breaks and allow him time for both sports, Eugene thinks about focusing solely on skateboarding.
Michael meets a man at a pickup basketball game and gets not only a loan from him, but a job as well. After Julie finds out that the man is a college recruiter, they're worried that Michael may have become ineligible to play basketball in college.
Julie and Antonio both love swing dancing and decide to enter a competition together. At first, Kristy and Michael are just annoyed that they can barely spend time with either of them. However, Mary Beth plants the idea that there may be more than dancing going on between the two. Meanwhile, Silk and Eugene work on setting up pranks to catch on video, so that they can make money by sending their tape to a funniest home videos television show.
Eugene and Silk both get jobs co-managing a new dance club. They're faced with a difficult decision when they find that a classmate and a great customer is dealing dope. Meanwhile, Kristy and Mary Beth decide to buy drugs from the dealer undercover in order to win spots on the newspaper.
Silk's dad is a police officer and as part of the job, he puts criminals behind bars. Silk starts to be terrorized by a vengeful criminal named Eric who was recently released from jail and has it out for Silk. After being confronted by Eric, Silk starts to get nervous about being alone without any defense, so he starts arming himself with a gun. During another confrontation with Eric, the gun accidentally goes off, nearly hitting Mary Beth, Michael, and Eugene.
After becoming lab partners with Syd, a grote (what teens from Deering call goths), Kristy tries to befriend her and close the gap between their cliques a little. As part of Kristy's plan to get to know some of the grotes a little better, she dresses up just like one, with the white makeup, black clothing, and piercings. She also tries to get Mary Beth and Julie to realize that other social groups aren't so different, but Kristy's other friends can't seem to make the effort to get to know them. However, while dressed up like a grote, Kristy and some of Syd's friends get beaten up by a pack of guys. Meanwhile, Eugene starts dating a college student after he lies to her and says that he's also attending college. However, he gets himself into a hard situation when she starts subbing at Deering.
Michael and Silk sign up for a Big Brother program in which they will spend time with a younger boy and be his mentors. The guys get assigned to a boy named Daniel, and he and Silk instantly bond. However, Silk has to leave early and doesn't have the chance meet Daniel's mother. Michael does and she mentions to him that she's glad Daniel got the right kind of Big Brothers- white males. Michael has no idea how to handle the situation, so he tells the rest of the team and they struggle with what to do in regards to Silk.
The team travel to yet another state final. Antonio meets up with some friends of his that are in a fraternity. Kristy becomes jealous when she finds out that other girls were at a party hosted by the fraternity, so she and Mary Beth come up with a scheme in which they dress up as guys and head on over to the fraternity's next event in order to spy on Antonio. Meanwhile, Michael's temper flares on the court when he continually gets harassed by a guy in the stands.
The Deering team discover that in the playoffs they're playing against a team that's generally considered easy to beat. Being overly confident, they start to slack off on their practices and don't take the upcoming game seriously enough, causing them to lose the championship. Meanwhile, Kristy and Mary Beth meet an old friend that they used to tease and try to make it up to him.
Antonio is offered a scholarship from the University of Kentucky. However, he gets injured and decides to give up on taking the scholarship. Coach and the other team members try to convince him to overcome his injury and go to Kentucky.
Coach's 17-year-old daughter, Kate, returns from Chicago to visit. However, he doesn't know that she has a baby. She confides her secret in the girls and they offer to sit for the baby while Kate and Coach visit. Meanwhile, the guys try to sell sunglasses in order to afford a ski trip.
Eugene starts gambling online and racks up a huge debt. He decides to keep it a secret, but when Silk finds out, he tells the Coach. Meanwhile, Kristy has a dental problem (and a ""hump"" on her back- an ice pack) that makes it difficult to speak. She's supposed to be interviewed by Stanford University, so she has Mary Beth take her place.
When a favourite teacher at Deering High School encourages the students to rebel against a newly enforced dress code, they gain victory, but their teacher is sacked. At their next big basketball game, the media are around and the team see their perfect opportunity to stage a sit-in. They get their point across but eventually Coach convinces everyone to get up and play the game - except Julie and Silk, who decide to boycott the match unless their teacher is rehired, or at least is given a good reason for being sacked. Eventually it is revealed that the teacher was fired because the board thought that he was getting too old to teach, and they'd taken this opportunity to let him go.
Silk's aunt is a singer in a gospel choir, in which Silk himself also sings. At first he keeps it a secret from the others, but they find out and everyone gets along really well with his Aunt Charlotte, who is a great basketball player! However she gets very sick, and although Silk prays really hard, she dies. He begins to lose his faith, but his Aunt appears to him and tells him to keep believing. Meanwhile, Mary Beth and Coach Katowinski both compete in a fundraising competition where the person who can stay for the longest time inside a VW Beetle wins it.
When Coach tells Julie to toughen up for Deering's upcoming big game against Montrose, she rises to the challenge. However her excellent defense lands Montrose's star player, Dave Carter, who was destined for the NBA next year, in hospital with a serious injury. Julie loses her confidence and gets benched for the next game. She visits Dave in the hospital and he assures her that he doesn't hold her responsible for his injury. Meanwhile, Mary Beth and Kristy have problems of their own when an ATM spews $1000 out when Kristy asked it for $20. The bank had no record of their mistake and didn't want the money back, so the girls go shopping. However they began to have bad luck after keeping the cash.
Silk receives a basketball scholarship from Temple University. At first he's psyched about the opportunity to go to Temple. However, after losing a game against two of Temple's players, Silk worries that he won't be able to keep his grades up and be a successful player against the competition in college. Meanwhile, fed up with getting rides from their parents, Julie and Kristy decide to buy a car together. But after constantly arguing with each other over their car, Julie and Kristy's friendship starts to get a little strained.
When Kristy and Antonio both get jobs working at the local cinema, they enjoy working together until a promotion becomes available. They each work on a marketing ploy - Antonio makes an elaborate spacecraft out of candy boxes, and Kristy organizes a late night celebrity showing of ""Saved By The Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas"" with a celebrity appearance from Dustin Diamond, a.k.a. ""Screech"". Kristy gains the promotion, and bosses an envious Antonio around so much that he quits, and his relationship with Kristy hits a rocky patch. Meanwhile, Mary Beth has a romantic dream about Eugene. She finds herself attracted to him in daylight too, so they go out on a date, and have a good time until they kiss.
Mary Beth finds out that Hammer is finished with Duke after dropping out. He decides that he'd like to attend UCLA with Mary Beth and Kristy. However, he can't get accepted, forcing Mary Beth to choose between Hammer and Kristy. Meanwhile, the guys take Coach Katowinski's dog, Killer, for a walk but accidentally lose him in the mall, where he's picked up by an Adopt-A-Pet volunteer.
While working on an article for the school paper, Mary Beth meets a guy that asks her out. Things go great until he wants more from her than she's okay with. Meanwhile, two girls try to sabotage Eugene and Silk's game.
Though the team is nearing the conclusion of an undefeated season, Coach is concerned that their playing has become tentative and that they fear losing more than they desire to win. He tries to get them to remember what it was like when they played basketball for fun. Also, Julie gets accepted by the University of Connecticut.
The gang work on setting up the gym for the prom. However, they run into problem after problem. The girls lose the prom money and later end up wearing the same dress the actual night of the prom. Also, Mary Beth and Silk end up with horrible dates, while Eugene still tries to find the right date. But the worst problem of all is when a tornado hits the Deering area.
In this clip show, Mary Beth and Kristy work on their final journalism project to capture the most important things that they learned in high school. They interview the rest of the gang, discussing the best and worst moments during their time spent at Deering.
The gang prepare to take a final glance at their time spent at Deering over the years. Everyone is emotional, especially Kristy who is worried that after they graduate, they'll never see each other again.