Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Jerald Ang/Red Sports.
Eunice Cheng (C) of SSP in action as she passes the ball. (Photo 1 © Jerald Ang/Red Sports)
Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Thursday, March 10, 2016 — Singapore Sports School (SSP) emerged champions again in the North Zone B Division Netball Championship after overcoming a spirited Anderson Secondary (AND) side 32–21 in the final.
In the semi-finals, SSP had beaten Singapore Chinese Girls’ School 27–11 while Anderson defeated CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent 32–26.
SSP has managed to stay unbeaten en route to retaining their title, capping off their zonal season with an impressive 11–0 win-loss record, which will put them in good stead moving into the National Championship.
Prior to this final, it seemed like Anderson had all odds stacked against them – SSP were the defending zonal champions and last year’s National finalists. In addition, Anderson had in fact lost to SSP 14–32 earlier in Round 2 of the competition, which was their only loss so far in an otherwise brilliant campaign. The SSP supporters inside Toa Payoh Sports Hall also far outnumbered the Anderson faithful.
Nonetheless, Anderson showed true grit and gave SSP a run for their money in the final, matching the favourites neck-and-neck throughout the first three quarters before SSP eventually pulled away in the last quarter.
The game began quite shakily for both sides, with several misplaced passes and missed shots. Once the big-game jitters had trickled away and the players got settled in, the game started going according to the script – SSP Goal Shooter (GS) Zoey Sin scored 5 of her 8 shots while Goal Attack (GA) Wah Tzy Hyi converted 4 of her 6 attempts to give SSP a 9–5 lead.
Then in the second quarter, the Anderson fightback began. In spite of their comparably smaller physical frames, the Anderson players became more aggressive in fighting for every ball and executing swift, incisive passes around court to trouble the SSP defense. It was an intense final in every sense as the game became more heated – there were several instances where players got accidentally shoved to the ground after aggressive ball interceptions.
Prolific shooting by GS Lim Wan Qi (4 out of 4 shots) and GA Tan Xuan Yun (5 out of 6 shots) helped Anderson cut the 4-point deficit to just one as the second quarter finished 15–14 to SSP.
In response, the SSP coach decided to freshen up her team in the third quarter, bringing on Sherlyn Yip for Zoey Sin at GS. By then, Eunice Cheng was also moved from Wing Attack (WA) to Centre (C) in a shift of strategy. The tactical changes failed to pay dividends, though, as Anderson Goal Keeper (GK) Aurene Graciella and Goal Defense (GD) Jamie Lim stood tall in their defensive semi-circle to intercept any lobs that came in.
The third quarter proved to be a more cagey affair, with ball possession being quickly interchanged from team to team as both sets of players started making bad passing decisions in the thick of the tense atmosphere. Anderson came out on top in this low-scoring quarter, completing their fightback to level the game precariously at 19–19 going into the final quarter.
After a bad outing in the third quarter – scoring none of her four shots – SSP’s Wah Tzy Hyi was withdrawn as Zoey Sin returned to the team as GA. Nicole Shin also returned at Centre (C) for SSP.
For Anderson, as a last throw of the dice, Jamie Lim was moved forward from GD to GS with Lim Wan Qi moving to WA, presumably using Jamie’s height to inject more physical presence in their attacking semi-circle.
Alas, tired legs probably proved to be the downfall for Anderson as they struggled in the last quarter. Careless passes were aplenty and while they resorted to lobbing balls to Jamie in their attacking semi-circle, SSP GK Cheyenne Howard was equal to the task as she made several jumping interceptions.
In comparison, SSP seemed more conditioned physically as they changed gears to pull away in these final 10 minutes. Zoey Sin (SSP GA) scored 5 of her 6 shots while Sherlyn Yip (SSP GS) finally got into her groove, converting 8 of her 9 attempts as SSP outscored Anderson 13–2 in the last quarter to eventually win the final by a more flattering 32–21 scoreline.
On the game, SSP captain Tzy Hyi commented, “I think it was really shaky up till the third quarter. But I think afterwards we finally managed to settle down. The first shot of the fourth quarter really gave us the morale and that’s how everything started to fall in place.”
On letting Anderson find a way back in the second and third quarters, she added, “I think it was just a loss of focus by the team as a whole and nobody was at fault. Before the last quarter, our coach was actually pretty confident that we would win it if we gave our best in the last quarter. The truth is, the game was ours and it was only a question of whether we wanted to take it or not.”
As for Anderson, despite the missed opportunity, their captain Jamie Lim is adamant that they have every reason to be proud of themselves.
She said, “I think we gave them (SSP) a good fight – the score was really close but in the end we can still be happy with the result. We tried our best and this is the closest we have gone in the final. Last year, we finished third in North Zone so this time round we actually did better. For the upcoming Nationals, our aim is to make the top four.”
Both SSP and Anderson will now move on to the National B Division Netball Championship, along with CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School, who finished in third and fourth place respectively in North Zone after playing out a 24–22 encounter.
SSP will look to go one better this time round after finishing as National 1st runners-up last year behind CHIJ (Toa Payoh). As Tzy Hyi put it, “Hopefully we’ll be champions this year. We’ll definitely train hard for it and we are going all the way.”
Scoring By Quarter
SSP vs Anderson
1st Q: 9–5
2nd Q: 6–9 (15–14)
3rd Q: 4–5 (19–19)
4th Q: 13–2 (32–21)
SSP Roster
Zoey Sin, Wah Tzy Hyi, Eunice Cheng, Nicole Shin, Ang Jia Yu, Kaylee Lim, Nur’ain Hassan, Nur Insyirah Zakariah, Cherylyn Kuan, Cheyenne Howard, Laura Low, Sherlyn Yip
Anderson Roster
Lim Wan Qi, Tan Xuan Yun, Chua Erynn, Rachel Lim, Nur Ashikin, Jamie Lim, Aurene Graciella, Vanessa Lim, Liu Si Yi, Thio Zhi Xin, Amira Yeo, Rusyda Athirah
More photos next page
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