Dunman Sec beat Jurong West 42-21 in T-Net 2nd Round

By Lee Hwee Cheng

CCAB, Wednesday, June 13, 2007 – Dunman Secondary School cruised to an easy 42–21 victory over Jurong West Secondary School to move a step closer toward the Final.

The game did not look all that rosy to the Dunman girls from the start of the first quarter because Jurong West were mounting fast attacks against them. Jurong’s #74 Amanda and #77 Joanne towered in the paint and moved their school quickly to a 6-0 lead.

An early time-out by Dunman’s bench at this point proved a timely call as the girls came back onto the court with nerves calmed and with a deadly full-court press defense that halted Jurong West’s offense for the rest of the quarter. Making interception after interception, Dunman went on successive counter attacks to put together a 9-0 run.  By the end of the quarter, Dunman had taken over the lead at 9-6.

Confidence boosted, Dunman continued on a 8-0 run early in the second quarter as #11 Qiu Ru contributed six of those points with her fearless scoring in the paint.  Held scoreless and trailing 6-17 for the first half of the quarter, Jurong West broke out of the ordeal finally when #23 Xiaofen made a three-point play with a basket and a foul.

Still, they could not find a way to stop Dunman in the defensive paint, whose strong centre in #15 Rebecca scored the rest of the points with her power moves.  Jurong West’s #24 Joanna scored a jumper in the last minutes of the quarter, but Dunman had pulled away to a bigger lead at 23-11 by the end of the ten minutes.

The third quarter turned out a sluggish one as Jurong West struggled with scoring and unforced errors while a tired Dunman dished out more fouls than they should.  Jurong’s Amanda and Joanne were sent to the free throw line for their fouled efforts in the paint, but unfortunately managed to convert only one point.

A fast break basket from #12 Qiu Hui gave Jurong their only points in this quarter.  Dunman had slowed down in their scoring as well, with #7 Mei Geok contributing six of eight points in this quarter as she made a jumper on a counter attack, drove to the baseline for a lay-up and took a rebound within the paint.  Dunman extended the lead to seventeen by the end of the third quarter at 31-14.

Dunman, despite being the stronger offensive force in the game, continued with their foul trouble in the final quarter, giving away a total of 12 free throw opportunities to the opponents while trying to stop their shots in the paint.

Jurong West scored five of their seven points in this quarter from the free throws, making it only 42% from the line.  Dunman continued also to outrun Jurong West in the scoring department, and it was #14 Yi Lin who stepped up in this quarter to pop in five of the team’s eleven points.

Dunman finished the quarter with a base-line drive and right-handed hook shot by Yi Lin, and ended the game 42-21.  Dunman will play another second-round game this afternoon to determine if they get through to the final to be played on Saturday.

In the other girls’ game that took place concurrently on the next court, Raffles Girls’ School beat Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School 37-18.

Editor’s note:  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!  More action shots  in the picture gallery.