Story contributed by reader Ian Chew

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The jubilant Unity girls after they had just defeated Bedok North 52-41, earning for themselves a place in the quarters after their disastrous showing against SCGS. (Photo © Ian Chew)

Singapore Basketball Centre, Tuesday, April 1, 2008 – Fairy tales do come true.

Needing to win by 11 points to qualify for the second round, the girls of Unity Secondary did just that when a Unity player scored with just six seconds left on the clock to help her team beat Bedok North Secondary 52-41 to qualify for the quarter-finals together with Singapore Chinese Girls’ School from Group D.

In a match replete with excitement and its fair share of controversies, Unity had started the game well, leading 19-8 by the end of the first quarter. The Bedok North girls did not give up, however, and astonishingly closed the gap to 18-19 by the end of the first half. The coach of Unity was visibly furious with his charges at this point, smashing his tactics board to display his disgust at their performance.

That seemed to shake up the Unity team in the second half and they went on to take a six-point lead by the end of the third quarter in a must-win match for the team. They were helped by a Bedok North team that seemed to self-destruct in the fourth quarter with two key players fouling out.

However Bedok North still had a chance to qualify when they trailed by nine points with less than 10 seconds to go, before the Unity basket that made it an 11-point gap with six seconds to go. A desperation shot at the buzzer failed to salvage Bedok North’s season and they were eliminated from the national championship with the loss.

A fuming Teo Jun Feng, coach of the Unity Sec girls team, was still unappeased despite the win.

“The girls still have a lot to improve on. They did not carry out my instructions on team tactics fully, which resulted in today’s closely played match.”

Roundup of Girls’ Championship

In Group A, Ahmad Ibrahim emerged tops with clear wins in all their matches. Chung Cheng High (Main) qualified as well, but not before a nail-biting two-point win over New Town.

In Group B, all eyes were on powerhouses Raffles Girls’ and Nanyang Girls’. They did not disappoint, with both team making it to the quarter-finals. The match between the two schools was a thriller that went into overtime. Nanyang triumphed by a close 58-55 to top the group. Raffles Girls’, on the other hand, had to overcome a determined Dunman Sec 41-40 to squeeze into the quarters.

As expected, Anglican High cruised to the quarter-finals with comprehensive wins in each of their Group C matches. Despite losing by a massive 51 points to Anglican High, the Yuying girls also managed to qualify by winning their other group matches.

Roundup of Boys’ Championship

Woodlands Ring emerged as the dark horse of the competition by winning all their Group A encounters, despite their third place finish in the North Zone. Anglican High also made it to the quarter-finals, but not before digging deep into their reserves for an overtime 60-52 win over South Zone’s Queenstown.

Teacher and coach Clement Lim attributed his charges’ surprise showing and visible improvement to a favourable first round draw.

“The teams in our group (Anglican High, Queenstown, Woodlands Ring and Assumption English) were all pretty even in terms of basketball standards. We just managed to perform better in all our matches,” he said.

In Group B, Jurong underlined their status as one of the favourites by cruising to a perfect record over their competitors. Although Raffles Institution pushed Jurong for all of three quarters in their match-up, Jurong still prevailed 71-40. Raffles then lost both their other two matches against Chung Cheng High (Main) and Chung Cheng High (Branch) to finish fourth in the group. Chung Cheng High (Main) qualified together with Jurong.

In Group C, Ahmad Ibrahim’s early promise as the top seed of the group fizzled out when they lost to both Gan Eng Seng and New Town. Their match against New Town, in particular, was an exciting one. New Town Sec managed to hang on for a slim 60-58 win over Ahmad Ibrahim with both key players Weng Siang and Subhas being slapped with four personal fouls each. Although New Town had beaten Gan Eng Seng 41-38 in an earlier encounter, both teams managed to qualify for the quarters.

In Group D, Catholic High cemented their top billing with an easy win over Seng Kang. Both teams were already assured of their quarter-final places before their match-up with two wins each already in the bag.

Notes: The national quarter-finals tip off this Friday at Singapore Basketball Centre… Mouth-watering matchups include West Zone champions Jurong against highly-fancied Seng Kang at 2 p.m…. while vastly improved Woodlands Ring and Gan Eng Seng take on each other at 4.30 p.m.

Boys’ Quarter-Final Groups

X1 – Jurong
X2 – New Town
X3 – Anglican High
X4 – Seng Kang

Y1 – Woodlands Ring
Y2 – Catholic High
Y3 – Chung Cheng High (Main)
Y4 – Gan Eng Seng

Girls’ Quarter-Final Groups

X1 – Nanyang Girls’ High
X2 – Singapore Chinese Girls’ School
X3 – Chung Cheng High (Main)
X4 – Yuying

Y1 – Ahmad Ibrahim
Y2 – Anglican High
Y3 – Raffles Girls’ School
Y4 – Unity