Story by REDintern Alan Chiang. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports
Jamie (RI, #8) has first touch on the ball. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Singapore Basketball Centre, Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - Raffles Institution made it two wins out of two with a huge 77-23 victory over St. Andrew’s JC in the girls’ A Division Basketball Championship quarter-finals.
Raffles Institution won their first quarter-final stage game against Nanyang Junior College earlier by an 18-point margin. The victory against St Andrew’s JC was the highest scoring match of the championship.
It was the first time in this quarter-final that RI had five players with double-digit scoring. Olivia Ng (#4), Jamie Chow (#8), Joelynn Ng (#9), Chin Ying Xin (#10), and Natasha Goh (#12) combined for a total of 59 points for Raffles.
St Andrew’s managed to hold on to a two-point lead in the first quarter but it was overturned easily as Raffles stepped up their game with Jamie (RI #8) and Ying Xin (RI #10) spearheading the offense in the opening stages of the match.
Matters got worse for SAJC as they were outscored by 22 points in the second quarter and only Jasmine Teo’s (SAJC #10) two free throws made it into St Andrew's score.
St Andrew’s team virtually fell apart after half-time as Raffles extended their lead to 40 points by the end of the third quarter. This time, it was Ying Xin (RI #12) who impressed for Raffles with 9 points.
It was too much to handle for SAJC in the final quarter as most of them looked uninterested to play on and they were hoping for time to run out as soon as possible.
Ms Chiew Poh Leng, Raffles Institution coach said, "The team performance is not too bad. Everyone played to their best." When she was asked which team Raffles would like to face in the semi-finals, she answered, "I think we have to respect all teams. We just need our players to play their best."
In another match at the other court, Hwa Chong Institution thrashed Nanyang Junior College 61-17 to book their place in the semi-finals after chalking up their second victory. The defending champion will face Raffles Institution in their last match for the quarter-finals stage with the winner of the match taking top position in the group.
Match Statistics
Scores by quarter
1st Q: SAJC 6 RI 11
2nd Q: SAJC 2 RI 24
3rd Q: SAJC 8 RI 21
4th Q: SAJC 7 RI 21
Top scorer
RI
Olivia Ng (#4) - 15 points
Jamie Chow (#8) - 13 points
Joelynn Ng (#9) - 11 points
Chin Ying Xin (#10) - 10 points
Natasha Goh (#12) - 10 points
An RI player going for a lay-up. (Photo 2 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
An RI player jumps and shoots as a Saints player tries to block. (Photo 3 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Xia Yu (SAJC, #15) catching a rebound. (Photo 4 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
“There goes the ball.” Both sides rushing for the ball. (Photo 5 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
An SAJC player reaches over to try and grab the ball from the RI player. (Photo 6 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
An SAJC player tries to shoot as she is surrounded by RI players. (Photo 7 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Daphne (SAJC, #14) aims and shoots as RI defenders close in. (Photo 8 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Chermaine (SAJC, #11) aims for the basket. (Photo 9 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
An RI player catching a rebound. (Photo 10 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
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