National Schools A Division Championships- Girls Game 3 vs Millenia Institute

Having gained momentum from the first two matches, we were set for our match against Millenia Institute. Or so we thought. Interestingly, the ominous weather that day seemed to have an element of foreshadowing of the game.

Right from the get-go, our players were caught off guard in an unexpected situation. The referee had made a call for Carisia (#7) to replace Jie Ying (#8) in the tip-off (due to a held ball situation after tip-off), leading us to think that we would lose the advantage of the first offensive play to our opponents. Fortunately, we were still able to regain possession of the ball, and without hesitation, we made quick passes into the paint, earning us our first 2 points within seconds.

We pressured our opponents with our full court defence, hoping to create turnovers and opportunities for easy baskets. However, they managed to slip through the loopholes in our defence at times with ease, making several attempts at the basket before bringing both teams to a tie.

The game was then anchored at a painful stalemate with neither teams making successful scoring attempts. It was only after a few minutes later into the game when the tie was only broken, and henceforth, we pulled the scoreline apart, ending the first quarter with an 11 point lead at 16-5.

We headed into the second quarter thinking that we were adequately warmed up for the game after Q1. However, careless passing and the failure to convert open shots cost us several turnovers. Luckily for us, our opponents were not able to make their shots count either. Upon regaining our composure halfway through the quarter, we managed to shut down MI’s offence completely, meanwhile earning ourselves another 13 point lead.

In the third and fourth quarters, our players put in a commendable effort in defence, restricting MI to scoring attempts only from the outside. We were also able to make countless successful rebounding attempts on both the offensive and defensive ends. Swift, accurate passes, and sharp shooting by the players eventually led us to end the game with a decisive win of 58-20.

Points by Quarter:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

RI 16 13 14 15

MI 5 0 7 8

#Nationals #2016 #MatchReport