VJC beat TPJC 43-19 to keep second-round hope alive

NETBALL

National ‘A’ Division Girls First Round
Victoria Junior College vs Tampines Junior College
Monday, 30 April, 2007, at Kallang Netball Centre

Story and pictures by Lee Hwee Cheng.  © Red Sports/soulbreath pictures

VJC’s GA Samantha receives a pass ahead of TPJC’s defenders.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

Victoria Junior College beat Tampines Junior College 43-19 in their first win of the season and kept themselves in the running for a second-round berth.  Putting up a good showing of teamwork and fighting spirit, the Victorians impressed with their fast and confident passing, especially with their on-court awareness of one another’s next move and presence.  Completing the strength for the team were the shooters, GS Geraldine and GA Samantha, both of whom were very confident with their long-range shooting.  Slowly but steadily, overcoming some early jitters in the first few minutes, VJC led the game 12-7 at the end of the first period.

VJC’s Centre Lim Sui Hui stretches out for a lob pass over TPJC’s Centre.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

VJC’s GS Geraldine attempts a shot while teammate GA Samantha anticipates the rebound.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

Warmed up in the feet and fired up in the mind, VJC dominated the second period with their attacking, leaving TPJC with a chance to score only three points.  TPJC put up a strong defence, the centre and wings running tirelessly despite the hot humid afternoon weather.  Passes were made with much effort from the defensive court to the offensive end, but the ball never quite made it into the shooting semicircle, due to frivolous unforced errors like stepping or offside violations or to VJC’s agile defenders. VJC put in eleven goals this period and finished the first half with a 23-10 lead.

TPJC’s GK makes a long pass to her Centre but VJC’s Lim Sui Hui anticipates to cut the passing lane.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

VJC’s GA Samantha attempts a shot despite TPJC’s GD.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

TPJC powered up their gear and decided in the third period that they had to start posing more offensive threats to earn more scoring opportunities.  With that, the lop-sided game turned more balanced as TPJC started fighting for equal offensive opportunities.  Still, the efforts were not complete, with the shooters continuing having a bad run at the scoring attempts.  TPJC continued to trail 14-33 at the end of the third period.

TPJC’s GS attempts a shot.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

VJC’s GA Samantha receives a pass while TPJC’s GD attempts to block from behind.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

In the fourth period, however, the situation took a slight turn when VJC started to show signs of wavering and commit consecutive turnovers of ball possession.  The ball was mis-passed and thrown out of bounds.  The shooters were suffering from a bad stroke of poor shooting form.  Plenty other unforced errors now plagued the Victorians as they lost attacking opportunities with stepping violations and close-contact fouls.  Never quite dominating this period like they just did in the earlier ones, VJC had to toughen up their defense as TPJC found more opportunities and boosted more confidence in the offense.  Still, while TPJC did manage to give VJC defenders a scare and a harder run for the ball, they did not manage to convert most of their goal attempts into points.  It was also unfortunate for TPJC as VJC shooters regained their composure toward the later part of the period and helped seal the game for their team with a 43-19 win.

TPJC’s GA makes a throw-in to Centre.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

This victory, their first in three games, came as a sweet one for the Victorian girls as it gave them a new lease in life for the title run.  They had lost their first game of the season, a crucial 27-30 loss to National Junior College, to cold feet and a lack of focus.  The game had been disrupted mid-way by rain and could only be resumed the next morning but by then, VJC was already trailing by 4 points, mostly a result of offensive errors and defensive mistakes.  The resumption of the game the next morning did not manage to turn things around for VJC and they went on to lose by a marginal 3 points.

VJC’s GS Geraldine attempts one of her long-range shots.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

They lost their second game to Anglo-Chinese Junior College 27-66, the undisputed giant of the group.  But with the win today, the VJC girls undoubtedly looked much more confident and more like the team they themselves knew.

Said centre Lim Sui Hui, "Yes we were probably more ‘gan cheong‘ (local slang to mean ‘nervous’) on our first day, but we’re glad we’re over that.  We’re starting to play more like a team, and more like the real VJC team we know, and we did that today.  We had very strong fighting spirit too."

VJC plays their last first-round game against Nanyang Junior College next Wednesday, 9 May, but everything is still a question mark.

"Everyone else (other than ACJC) has a chance now for that spot in the second round."

Good luck, girls!

In the other games played earlier, St Andrew’s Junior College beat Jurong Junior College 69-23 while National Junior College beat Nanyang Junior College 44-20.

In the other two games that took place at the same time as the VJC-TPJC match, Raffles Junior College showed no mercy as they trounced Serangoon Junior College 98-4.

RJC’s GS Kalusha Yap attempts a shot while SRJC’s GK tries to reach out for a block.  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

Anderson Junior College started relatively slow in the first period, but fired up their shooting in the third period to beat Yishun Junior College 78-18.

AJC’s GS attempts a shot while YJC’s defenders wait for a rebound  © Lee Hwee Cheng.

Here are the first-round group results so far:

Editor:  If you recognize yourselves or your friends in these pictures, let us know and we’ll update the captions accordingly!