By Gan Yu Neng/Red Sports
Sheryl Ng (#4, left) of Nanyang Girls’ in action against Unity during the West Zone final. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Clementi Sports Hall, Tuesday, August 7, 2012 — In a rematch of their West Zone final, Nanyang Girls’ High avenged their previous loss with a 42-30 win over Unity Secondary in the second round of the National C Division Basketball Championship.
As the clock counted down the remaining seconds to Unity’s defeat, parents of the Nanyang girls unabashedly joined the rest of the team in screaming and cheering for the players on the court. One of the mothers remarked excitedly to another, “This win today is especially sweet!”
That the Nanyang C Division team has come so far this year is in stark contrast to their results last year, where they were eliminated in the very first round of the West Zone Championship. Only the top four teams in each zone progress to the Nationals.
“We really grew together,” said Nanyang’s effervescent team captain, Sheryl Ng (#4), who was part of the C Division squad last year. “When I think of our Sec 1 plays — oh my god, so immature!”
Sheryl and vice-captain Dalini Raja (#11) took leave of their jubilant teammates in order to tell me more about the match, even as the parents who had made time to come down for the afternoon match descended with cameras, one of them going so far as to hand out celebratory lollipops.
“I’m just very happy today about how the match went,” Sheryl told me. “We’ve lost to Unity four times already, including the T-Net and the Milo Cup (People’s Association T-Net Club Basketball Tournament and the Milo Junior Basketball Championship).”
In their most recent encounter prior to this match, Unity defeated Nanyang by a mere two points to take the West Zone title.
“We made too many fouls that match,” said Sheryl. “Four of our players fouled out … Unity got 20 points from free throws.”
Nanyang appeared to have taken a lesson from that day, with the players making an effort to keep clear of fouling, even as their teammates on the bench and the parents on the sidelines called out reminders. In the end, it was Unity that made many of the fouls, putting themselves in a penalty situation and giving Nanyang bonus points from free throws awarded for non-shooting fouls.
Asked about their targets for this year, Sheryl did not hesitate to reply: “Finals. We want to play at Jurong East Sports Hall again. And must win lah!”
“But,” she added, her tone becoming more sober, “We need to get through this round first. This game doesn’t guarantee us a place in the Top Four.”
Dalini went on to explain how, for this round, Nanyang were grouped with three top teams.
Nanyang Girls’ High are in a group with Unity Secondary, Deyi Secondary and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School. Unity were the West Zone champions after beating Nanyang, while Deyi Secondary were North Zone champions, and SCGS the South Zone champions. Only two of these four schools will progress to the semi-finals, and based on track record alone, Nanyang stand out as the underdogs.
“When we saw the drawing we were scared,” said Sheryl. “We’ve lost to all three schools before.”
As Sheryl tried to recall their previous games, Dalini verified that aside from their previous losses against Unity, Nanyang have lost to Deyi’s players in the T-Net Club tournament, and to SCGS in the Milo Cup.
“But then again, we also lost to Unity quite a lot before; and we took it all back at one shot today! It’s not like we won by just two points,” Sheryl continued optimistically.
“[Last year] we weren’t even in Nationals … This year we were very focused. We focused very hard on training during the holidays! We trained harder to prepare us for today. I think we were quite well-prepared today. We didn’t want to disappoint our friends and family.”
Among the family members present at the match today was Dalini’s mother, as well as her young siblings.
Asked about their current greatest rival now that Unity have been defeated, Dalini immediately replied, “SCGS and Deyi,” before Sheryl playfully chided her for the rather uninformative answer.
“SCGS,” Sheryl replied, “The SCGS players are strong, and — oh my god, their #13 (Charmaine Koh)! She’s a very good center, very smart. She’s tall, but we have one center the same height.”
Nanyang will next play SCGS on Monday, August 13th, 4pm at Clementi Sports Hall. SCGS, having just beaten Deyi, will also be coming in with a win in the bag, and the victor of this match will be all but guaranteed a place in the semi-finals.
Nanyang Girls’ High Roster
Sheryl Ng (#4), Zhimin (#5), Weiwen (#6), Chloe Yan (#7), Boon Jiahwee (#8), Natasha (#9), Rachel Wong (#10), Dalini Viktoria Rajandhran (#11), Lim Boon Yee (#12), Charmian Cheah (#13), Liwen (#14), Yushin (#15)
National C Division Basketball Championship — full fixtures and results
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