Minnesota Mom Bounces in Half-Court Shot to Win Half-Off Daughter's Tuition

Angela Ramey says she shot the basketball "granny-style."

ByABC News
December 17, 2015, 12:48 PM

— -- The Minnesota mom who landed a half-court basketball shot to win half off of her daughter’s private school tuition says, she could not believe the third attempt, thrown granny-style, made it in the hoop.

Making the basket even more remarkable, is that the ball missed the net once, bounced on the court and then swished into the basket, giving Angela Ramey the prize.

“I lined up the shot. I bounced the ball. I said a quick prayer and I threw it granny-style, truly," Ramey said today on “Good Morning America.”

Ramey, of West Bloomington, Minn., was taking part in a meal-packing volunteer event earlier this month at Bethany Academy, a private Christian school, when she had three chances to make the half-court shot.

Ramey missed the first shot and then her nine-year-old daughter, Grace, took the second shot and also missed. Grace, a fourth-grade student, was right by her mom's side cheering her on when Ramey took the third and final attempt, and was just as shocked as her mom when the basketball went through the net.

“I was really excited that she had made it in because I went, ‘Okay, it bounced. She really tried. I’m glad for her,” Grace Ramey said today on “GMA.” “I’m like, ‘Oh my God. She made it in the bucket.’”

Also surprised was Ramey’s husband and Grace’s dad, Jim, who was not at the event and only believed the news when school administrators joined Ramey on the phone to confirm his wife’s luck.

“He was just kind of silent and then our head administrator sent him the clip from his cellphone," Ramey said of her spouse.

The cost of full-year tuition at Bethany Academy, a K-12 school, currently ranges from $3,306 to more than $10,000, according to the school’s website.

The school event where Ramey made her shot was a fundraiser for the charity Kids Against Hunger, during which the school packed 41,000 meals, according to Ramey.

“GMA” gave Ramey the opportunity to make a basketball shot again, and also announced that the show will make a donation to a children’s hunger charity.

“And you don’t even have to make the shot for us to do it,” “GMA” co-anchor Robin Roberts joked about the donation.

Even without the pressure, Ramey made the shot live on “GMA,” leading to more screams.

“Thank you Jesus,” Ramey said after sinking the shot.

“You better play the lottery,” Roberts told her.