Story and photos by Les Tan/Red Sports. Additional reporting by REDinterns Olivia Lee and Xaveria Mo

b division west zone basketball

Janice Ong (Unity #9) drives past Bella Tan (Jurong West #9). Janice finished with 10 points, including two 3-pointers, and was named MVP. Bella finished as her team’s second highest scorer with seven points. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Jurong East Sports Hall, Tuesday, March 7, 2011 — Unity Secondary beat Jurong West Secondary 59-49 to successfully defend their West Zone B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship title.

However, it was Jurong West who set the early tempo for the game as they came charging out to set an 8-0 lead to leave the Unity bench and supporters stunned.

Jurong West, led by Ng Su Wei (#13) with five of their 12 first-quarter points, stifled Unity with their tall captain and centre Chen Jingyi (#14) dominant with rebounds.

It took Unity deep into the first quarter with just over three minutes left before they scored their first two points through Diane Seow (#10). Diane was eventually responsible for eight of the 10 Unity first-quarter points.

Unity struggled to contain Jingyi and Elsa Handika (#13) had to head back to the bench after she picked up her third personal foul trying to contain the tall Jurong West captain. After their early setback, Unity fought back to trail only by two (10-12) at the first quarter break.

Both teams were neck and neck for the first five minutes of the second quarter before a huge 3-pointer by Lee Qiu Hui (Jurong West #5) from the corner that was all net raised a huge cheer from the Jurong West supporters. That pushed Jurong West ahead 18-15.

Unity scoring went cold and a driving layup by Qiu Hui made it 21-15 with 3:37 left in the second quarter. Qiu Hui accounted for half of her team’s 10 second-quarter points as they were outscored 9-10 by Unity in that quarter. Diane chipped in five of those 10 second-quarter points for Unity.

Jurong West led by a slim one-point (21-20) lead at half-time.

In the third quarter, Unity came alive and blew the game open as they outscored Jurong West 24-11. Pamela Loh (#8) with two 3-pointers, and Shermaine Chua (#5) with one, accounted for nine of those third-quarter points.

Unity also finally took their first lead of the game at 24-22 in the third quarter with 8:13 on the clock. An 8-1 run from the start of the third quarter gave Unity a six-point 28-26 lead, and this forced Jurong West to call a timeout at 6:34.

Janice Ong (#9) then sank a 3-pointer to give Unity a 10-point lead at 39-29, their largest lead of the game thus far. By the end of the third quarter, Unity were in a commanding 12-point, 44-32 lead.

Unity kept the pressure up in the fourth and Ng Su Wei (Jurong West #13) left the game in tears when she collected her fifth personal foul.

Unity had an 18-point 59-41 lead with 2:42 but a late Jurong West spurt ensured a respectable final score.

“Our fighting spirit was very good. Everyone fought for every ball. We never gave up even though we were losing 7-0 (at the start), we still kept fighting,” said Janice Ong, who finished with 10 points, including two 3-pointers.

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