Story by REDintern Denise Chia. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Yeo Ding Xin (Zhonghua #11) looks out for open teammates. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Thursday, January 28, 2016 — National Junior College beat Zhonghua Secondary 33-24 in the South Zone B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship.
Esther Yip (#4) from Zhonghua scored a game-high 10 points while Denise (#12) of NJC led her team with eight.
NJC first gained possession of the ball at the tip-off, but the ball was quickly stolen by Yeo Ding Xin (#11) of Zhonghua. The first basket of the game was scored by Reanne Ching (#7) of Zhonghua.
Zhonghua was able to quickly and repeatedly bring the ball across the court with swift passes and good spatial awareness; however, their shooting was their downfall as NJC took advantage of the unsuccessful shots and gained possession of the rebounds.
Despite NJC’s offence being less aggressive than Zhonghua’s, offence remained Zhonghua’s strength as NJC easily weaved past their opponents.
NJC, being more adept at shooting, quickly raked in points, commanding cheers from the large throng of NJC supporters and bringing the score to 10-7 in their favour by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Zhonghua opted to make long passes before NJC’s strong defence could stop their attempts at scoring. This seemed to work for Zhonghua as NJC chose not to venture into the empty space available, resulting in the entire team chasing after a single Zhonghua player and thereby failing to stop the shot.
Zhonghua’s tactics narrowed the deficit and NJC led by just a single point at 12-11 with seven minutes to go in the second quarter. However, NJC quickly retaliated with swift passes, widening the gap to 14-11 within the next minute. NJC led 21-14 at half time.
In the second half of the game, Zhonghua upped their defence, crowding around the opponent with the ball to pressure her into throwing away the ball. While this worked a few times and allowed Zhonghua to gain possession of the ball, NJC quickly caught up and worked around this by opting for bounce passes to their teammates.
Despite a growing lead for NJC, Zhonghua retained their fighting spirit and fought hard, outscoring NJC 7-4 in the final quarter.
In the final four seconds of the game, Esther Yip (#4) of Zhonghua managed to score a 3-pointer, but NJC emerged as 33-24 winners.
“We put in a lot of effort but we still made mistakes in our defence,” said Ashley (#11), vice-captain of NJC.
“We rushed our offence,” added Denise (#12), captain of NJC.
“As compared to our previous match, though, we were a lot calmer today and I think that’s a great improvement!”
Scoring by Quarter
National Junior College vs Zhonghua
1st Q: 10-7
2nd Q: 11-7 (21-14)
3rd Q: 8-3 (29-17)
4th Q: 4-7 (33-24)
Top Scorers
National Junior College
Denise (#12) – 8 points
Zhonghua
Esther Yip (#4) – 10 points (1 x 3-pointer)
National Junior College Roster
Vicky (#4), Sylvia (#5), Nicole Lee (#6), Vanessa (#7), Ke Wen (#8), Cheryl (#9), Yi Xuan (#10), Ashley (#11), Denise (#12), Glenda Lee (#13), Nicole Looi (#17), Yu Hui (#18)
Zhonghua Roster
Esther Yip (#4), Jonalyn Koh (#5), Reanne Ching (#7), Shermin Moh (#8), Sherry Lee (#9), Ummi Kaltom (#10), Yeo Ding Xin (#11), Jeslyn Chew (#12), Claudia Tan (#14), Crystal Ho (#15), Lim Fang Hui (#16), Nikki Lee (#25)
South Zone B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship – fixtures and results
More photos next page
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