Youth Olympic Basketball: Another heartbreak for Singapore girls as they fall to Chile

Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

*scape Youth Park, Monday, August 23, 2010 – Lightning struck twice on the Singapore girls’ as they lost by one point again. This time, they fell in overtime to Chile 16-15 to finish 19th out of 20 countries in the Youth Olympic Games FIBA 33 basketball competition.

In the previous match, Singapore were edged out by a Thailand free throw in the dying moments and this time, it was a three-pointer in overtime that sealed Singapore’s fate. Katalina Garcia, who ended with a game-high nine points and eight rebounds, made the shot from downtown with 45 seconds remaining and although Tok Hui Min cut it down to one, Singapore were unable to get another basket.

Both teams took quite some time to warm up but it was Singapore that took the early 4-0 lead through Hannah Ng and Alanna Lim. Chile stormed right back, however, and they levelled the match at 6-6.

Captain Hannah Ng nailed a three pointer to restore Singapore’s lead at 9-6, but once again the South Americans were able to find cracks in Singapore’s defense. Right at the end of the first half, Singapore conceded the lead for the first time in the match, with Chile nailing a jumper right at the end for a 10-9 lead at the intermission.

After the restart, although Chile extended their lead via a free throw, Hui Min levelled the match for Singapore at 11-11 with a layup. Both sides then struggled to put the ball into the basket and did not score for over two minutes. It took a lapse in defense from Singapore that allowed Francisca Salvatierra to drive clean through for the lead at 13-11.

Zoe Eng, who had suffered an ankle injury in a previous game, started the match and it was she who tied the game with 1 minute 18 seconds on the clock. Both teams then failed to find the basket again and the game headed into overtime.

In the extra two minutes, much of the same followed and it was only after 1 minute and 15 seconds that Chile nailed the three-pointer. Despite Singapore’s efforts and Hui Min’s layup, the host were unable to secure the win and they lost their second consecutive match by a single point.

“When we woke up this morning, we told ourselves that we are here to win,” said Alanna Lim. “And we are disappointed not to pull it off. We took a long time to warm up. I guess the three-pointer at the end was a bit lucky, but basketball is (sometimes) a game of luck after all.”

“But the experiences gain from this tournament is indeed very great,” continued the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School student. “It has been pleasant and I have made quite a few friends from other countries.”

“I believed we could have won this game,” explained a very tired Hannah Ng. “They beat Vanuatu by just a slight margin while against Thailand, they lost by a larger margin than our one-point defeat. So I thought we could have beaten them, but not in an overconfident way, of course.”

For more photos, go to the next page.