Story by Chan Hui Mui/Red Sports. Photos by Marvin Lowe and REDintern Low Hui Yu/Red Sports
The RGS GD jumps in on the shot. (Photo 1 © Low Hui Yu/Red Sports)
Kallang Netball Centre, Tuesday, April 12, 2011 — Greenview Secondary beat Nanyang Girls’ High 30-24 to enter the semi-finals of the National B Division Netball Championship.
It was a remarkable turnaround for a team that did not make it past the first round of the East Zone championship last year.
Both Nanyang Girls’ and Greenview had come into this game with identical 1-1 win-loss records and the winner of this match would progress into semi-finals.
For the first 35 minutes of the game, the score margin did not go beyond three points and the lead was exchanged several times.
Greenview players were physically bigger but they could not stop their smaller Nanyang opponents from bringing the ball down the court. However, Nanyang could not clear the final line of defence, with the Greenview Goal Keeper Grace Ang creating precious turnovers for her team. The game was kept this way for most of the time
With a few minutes left, the Nanyang Girls’ Goal Attack had a calf muscle cramp and she could not continue playing. Her team lost their momentum and that allowed Greenview to grab hold of the opportunity to surge ahead and wrap up the game 30-24.
“I am happy with the result. Greenview has never achieved this in our history. I think no one expected us to come so far,” said a happy Greenview captain, Vivian Koe.
In the other Group X match, both Cedar Girls’ Secondary and Singapore Sports School (SSP) faced the same pressure, with the winner of the match progressing to the semi-finals.
SSP had a good start, taking a 12-6 lead at the end of the first half but Cedar narrowed the deficit to just one point in the third quarter. However, Cedar could not sustain the pressure and eventually lost the game 22-17.
“Losing to Nanyang Girls’ in the first match of the second round was a good wake up call for the girls,” said Singapore Sports School’s coach, Robin Manihera. “The loss inspired the girls to work harder as a team. The experience has made them more bonded, the key to win today’s match.”
In Group Y, CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) beat Raffles Girls’ School 40-31. This was the third meeting between the two teams this year, with their previous two matches coming in the South Zone tournament.
The CHIJ win gave them first spot in Group Y and also meant the end of Dunman Secondary’s campaign. RGS finished second in the group and also qualified for the semi-finals.
CHIJ (TP) had earlier tied with Dunman 29-apiece. Dunman needed to beat Nan Hua High on the last day of the second round and they did so, 39-34. However, Dunman also needed RGS to beat CHIJ (TP) in order to have a chance to qualify for semi-finals.
CHIJ (TP) will meet Greenview in the semi-finals while RGS will be facing Singapore Sports School. CHIJ (TP) had previously encountered Greenview in the first round and the game finished in a tie.
“We need to tidy up our play. We are lucky that we did not meet the other two giants (CHIJ (TP) and Greenview) as they have very tall players whereas our players aren’t as tall,” said Sports School coach, Robin Manihera.
Greenview’s captain Vivian Koe believes her team has a chance.
“During the last encounter, we did not play to our best abilities. If we put in our best, we should be able to beat CHIJ (TP),” said Vivian.
The semi-finals will be played this Friday, 2.45pm onwards, at CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh).
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Greenview has really no sportsmanship and sometimes use underhand methods …. they dont deserve to win imo.
i think the heading is wrong. greenview did not win nygh just byy chance. they have the standards and i think they ought to be the champions for this year’s nationals! All the best greenview!
i think that greenview played a great game and in fact nanyang was afraid of them. just saying. hope chij and greenview will be an exciting game.
In picture 3 page 2, the greenview player is Neo Fanching . And in picture four the greenview player is Darissa Lee. (:
Neo Fang Ching**
Greenview GD = Darissa Lee
WD= Neo Fang Ching
GK= Grace Ang
Thanks for the names update! : )
Was informative article but could have been written better.
1. the title stated greenview survived scare of nygh, but the actual text did not actually describe where was the scare? It was jz a brief of the game with the only info being nygh girl bing injured. That is not a scare right?
2. It was mentioned that ssc n cedar faced the same pressure. What pressure? There wasn’t mention of pressure in the nygh n greenview game?
Otherwise I think it was informative n neatly written! Keep up the good work.
The pressure came from the fact that the winner of each of the games mentioned would qualify for the semi-final at the expense of the other. I’ve made the sentence more explicit. Thanks.
I’ll leave the writer to explain why it was a scare. You bring up a good point.
Thanks for the feedback.
Greenview players were physically larger. Despite this, Nanyang managed to attack smoothly down the court. However, Greenview Goal Keeper did a great job to prevent Nanyang Goal Shooter from getting to the ball.
I have added these details into the story.