BASKETBALL

National ‘A’ Division Girls Quarterfinal
Raffles Junior College vs Hwa Chong Institution
Monday,14 May 2007, at Singapore Basketball Centre

Story & pictures by Lee Hwee Cheng.  © Red Sports /soulbreath pictures
In what might have possibly been a preview of the final itself on the last day of the National ‘A’ Girls Basketball quarterfinal round, Raffles Junior College (RJC) were a more composed and steady side as they slowly overcame Hwa Chong institution’s (HCI) pressure and broke down their defenses to win 52-42.

HCI’s Wan Qian Ling (no.7) and Rachael Tan (no.13) go for the rebound, while RJC’s Pachara Lawjindakul (no.7) looks on.  © Lee Hwee Cheng

Looking a tad more aggressive in the offense, Hwa Chong had an early 0-5 lead in the first three minutes of the game with a rebound off a missed free throw from Rachael Tan (no.13) and a drive into the left lane by no.12. It was only in the fourth minute of the first period that RJC’s captain Esther (no.10) finally put in her first jumper to also score the first points for her team.  Both sides remain scoreless for the next two minutes until RJC’s Cynthia Sukarno (no.4) went on a drive past a defender at the top of the key in the centre lane, then stopped and popped a jumper.  A three-pointer sunk in by Esther, her first after a couple of attempts, put RJC in the momentary lead at 7-5 with four minutes to go.

After a slow start in the scoring department for both camps, the last four minutes of the first period saw much more warmed up bodies and less tensed up minds as the game eased into a more fluid momentum and the girls began to find more scoring opportunities and commit less unnecessary violations.  A quick basket by HCI’s Wan Qian Ling (no.7) levelled the game in a matter of seconds and teammate no.12 drove down the left lane on a fast break to regain the lead at 9-7.  A baseline drive by RJC’s Clara Tan (no.8) drew a shooting foul, and both free throws converted levelled the game again, but only for less than twenty seconds as HCI’s own no.8 drove to the baseline as well but stopped and popped a turnaround jumper instead.  Just as the clock ran down the last two minutes of the period, RJC’s Esther took a pass at the high post and drove into the centre lane past two defenders and finished her move with a right-handed hook, making the scores on par again at 11-11.

Hwa Chong pulled away quickly to a five-point lead in the with two minutes to go, thanks to a three-point play from Qian Ling as she drew a shooting foul from a lay-up, and an act of perfect teamwork as no.5 drove into the centre lane and dished the ball to teammate Li Hui Ting (no.14) for an easy assist.  With less than a minute to go, HCI held the opponent’s scoring to a standstill and looked to take the quarter with a comfortable lead.  But in the last twenty seconds, HCI slipped up in their haste to attack, and RJC intercepted two careless passes in HCI’s consecutive offensive plays and converted the two counter-attacks into quick baskets from Cheryn-ann Chew (no.11) and Pachara Lawjindakul (no.7).  At the end of the first period, HCI led by only a point at 16-15.

HCI’s playmaker no.12 Phua Kaiyi makes a pass into the paint over RJC’s Cynthia Sukarno (no.4).  © Lee Hwee Cheng

Hwa Chong held on to the leading position for the large part of the second period, and a sudden explosive drive into the centre lane by playmaker no.12 in the second minute extended the lead further to four points.  HCI switched to a full-court press tactic at this point, and surprisingly it failed to shake up the momentum of the well-prepared Rafflesians.  RJC successfully broke past the full-court press, and launched into two quick attacks instead, resulting in three quick points from a free throw and a lay-up, that put them only one point behind HCI again.

In the meantime, HCI had started to slip into a fumbling mode themselves, making careless passes in otherwise fluid team-plays and missing baskets from uncontested lay-ups and shots.  A pick-and-roll between no.12 and Hui Ting was marred by a bad pass.  A fast break opportunity was wasted when after making a defensive steal, no.8 spotted teammate no.9 sprinting down the left lane but made a cross-court pass that flew out of bounds instead.  A drive into the right lane by Qian Ling ended in a missed basket, but this time, teammate Hui Ting the rebound and popped the ball back into the basket, extending the lead away again by three at 21-18.

But in the last three minutes of the period, RJC dominated the offensive game as they went on relentless attacks that deprived HCI of any futher scoring opportunity.  Cheryn-ann drove into the centre lane, stopped and popped a jumper at the free throw line to close the deficit to one point.  A minute later, she popped in another jumper from the baseline this time and RJC took the lead again at 22-21.  In the last seconds, RJC continued making steals off two consecutive Hwa Chong offensive plays and went on quick counter attacks, converting a free throw in the process.  It was RJC who ended the second period with the lead this time at 23-21.

HCI’s player makes an outlet pass upon pressure from an RJC defender while RJC’s captain Esther (no.10) looks on.  © Lee Hwee Cheng

Confidence boosted and appetite whetted, RJC continued on a scoring rampage, while HCI never quite managed to shake off the poor shooting form in the third period.  It started with a jumper from Cynthia Sukarno, and in the next two minutes, Hwa Chong’s no.10 grabbed an offensive rebound and converted the basket into a three-point play to put them one point behind at 24-25.  Unfortunately for the Hwa Chong camp, these three points in the third minute would also turn out to be the only ones they would score in that entire period.

RJC went ahead on a 15-0 run from then.  Cheryn-ann scored six of her total points in this period with her sharp jumpshots, and Esther contributed another six from her nifty fast breaks and a jumper in the paint.  Teammates Cynthia and Clara contributed in the defensive end, putting pressure on HCI’s ball possession, making steals in the process, and then setting up fast breaks and assists for the team.  Hwa Chong, on the other hand, were starting to look flustered in their hurried offense and ran out of ideas against RJC’s harrying attacks.  RJC were ahead by a whopping 16 points at 40-24 by the end of the third period.

HCI’s no.9 tries to make a basket despite pressure from RJC’s Cheryn-ann Chew (no.11).  © Lee Hwee Cheng

Finally looking awakened in the last period, Hwa Chong pulled themselves out of the slump and remedied the poor scoring form in the last two periods.  The guards were starting to pump up the confidence in driving towards the basket again.  in the third minute, no.8 drove into the left lane, made a foul-in basket but failed to convert it into a three-point play.  Instead, she grabbed her own rebound from the missed free throw and popped in a jumper and made it four points in a row.  Still, RJC had also scored an early four points in the period, with a fast break from Esther and another jumper from Cheryn-ann.  With the four-point play, Hwa Chong were still trailing by 12 points at 32-44.

For the next three minutes, however, Hwa Chong held their opponent scoreless by dominating in the offense.  They made more attacks and shot attempts but none was converted, drawing only fouls in the process.  HCI managed to score only three more points from free throws despite all their efforts.  As the clock ran down to the last four minutes of the game, RJC found the opportunities with picking steals off HCI’s offensive plays and making counter-attacks again, and went on to score four more baskets off these opportunities.  Hwa Chong made efforts to pop in a rebound from no.8 off her own missed free throw, and two more jumpers, and they made up for the scoring drought in the last period with a 18-point run in this period.  But it just wasn’t enough.

HCI’s player makes a shot against RJC’s Cheryn-ann Chew (no.11).  © Lee Hwee Cheng

Raffles emerged the resilient victor with a 52-42 win, and will play Anderson Junior College in the semifinal.  In the meantime, Hwa Chong have yet another tough game to tackle when they meet Victoria Junior College in the semifinal on Wednesday.

HCI’s Magdalene Kang (no.5) and her teammates getting back on court after a time-out.  © Lee Hwee Cheng

Editor’s note:  The reporter here had been a little blur and had forgotten to collect the names from both teams after the game on Monday – my fault!  If anyone from both teams is reading this report, please do help us out by sending us your team list, so I can fill in your names in the report instead of the jersey numbers.  Also, if you do recognize yourselves or any of your friends in these pictures, do drop us a note in the "Comments" section and we’ll update the captions accordingly.  Thanks!