Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Lim Yong Teck and Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports
Cheryl Poon (#7) of Singapore goes for the layup against Malaysia. She led the scoring with a team-high 12 points in the game. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Saturday, June 13, 2015 — Hosts Singapore went down to causeway rivals Malaysia 39–65 in their fourth game of the women’s basketball competition at the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Cheryl Poon was the only Singaporean who scored in double figures, leading the team with 12 points. Yap Fook Yee and Eugene Ting led the visitors with 10 points each.
Cheryl drilled a three to open the scoring for the game. Thereafter, Malaysia raced to an 8–3 lead over Singapore but Cheryl stopped the visitors’ streak by scoring off a cut-in (5–8). Singapore racked up five team fouls with four minutes to go in the first quarter, with Jayne Tan and Alanna Lim having two personal fouls each. In the final minute, Yukie Yoshida scored one and Shermaine See made both of her free throws to trail 9–17 at the end of the first quarter.
Singapore ran more inside plays early into the second quarter, resulting in four points straight from Alanna to reduce their deficit to 13–17. However, Malaysia eventually pulled away to end off the first half 32–17.
Despite Singapore’s valiant defensive efforts in the third quarter, they were unable to put a stop to Malaysia’s scoring streak. Cheryl led Singapore offensively as she consistently added on to the scoreboard. Singapore trailed 29–48 at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Singapore’s lapse in defence allowed Malaysia to easily add on to their scoring. The visitors registered a 17–8 scoring run to end the game 65–39 winners.
Singapore will play Philippines next in their final preliminary game on Monday, 15 June, 2pm at OCBC Arena.
“I think we really put up a good fight today. Currently Malaysia is first on the table so we just wanted to compete and give our fans something to cheer about. We played ball by ball today and tried to defend our hearts out,” said Cheryl. “I think that the Malaysians were extremely constant as a team today.”
Team manager Chan Mei Hui commented, “I think the players fought really hard today both offensively and defensively. I think they did pretty well in most of the quarters. The shooting percentage wasn’t as high as we had wanted it to be, but on the whole, we’re quite happy with the players’ fighting spirits today.”
On their aim for the next game against Philippines, Mei Hui added, “Like what I always tell the team, we’ll take each game as a new, fresh game. Basically we want to try to get as close to our opponent as possible, so whether we win or we lose the game, we want to make sure that we have played our best and prove to Singapore that we’re actually quite comparable to our Southeast Asian counterparts.”
Score by Quarter
Malaysia vs Singapore
1st quarter: 17–9
2nd quarter: 15–8 (32–17)
3rd quarter: 16–12 (48–29)
4th quarter: 17–10 (65–39)
Singapore roster
Shermaine See (#4), Chan Chu Yin (#5), Lim Jia Min (#6), Cheryl Poon (#7), Jayne Sarah Tan (#8), Sharlene Li (#9), Alanna Lim (#10), Koh Wei Bin (#11), Priscilla Han (#12), Yukie Yoshida (#13), Tang Choy Ting (#14), Pauline Ang (#15)
Malaysia roster
Pang Hui Pin (#00), Chong Yin Yin (#5), Saw Wei Yin (#6), Kalaimathi Rajintiran (#12), Nur Izzati Yaakob (#17), Lee Jo Rynn (#21), Ng Shi Yeng (#25), Low M (#29), Yap Fook Yee (#35), Eugene Ting (#69), Wong Mei Chyn (#71), Choo Sook Ping (#88)
More photos next page
Leave A Comment