By Joseph Lee/Red Sports
Lim Xin Yi (Jurong #9) taking a shot with Amanda Ng (New Town #14) trying to put a hand to it. Xin Yi had a game-high 14 points. (Photo 1 © Joseph Lee/Red Sports)
Clementi Sports Hall, Wednesday, March 6, 2013 — New Town Secondary survive a late scare as Jurong Secondary rallied back in the final quarter, but they eventually held on to win 39-34 in the West Zone B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship.
Lim Xin Yi (#9) of Jurong had a game-high 14 points while Amanda Ng (#14) of New Town had a team-high of 13.
Jurong came out strong to start the game with a 6-1 run over the first five minutes of the game, as they proved too strong in the paint, picking up many offensive rebounds through their centre Tan Ying Yi (#5). The offensive rebounds proved deadly as Jurong managed to get the second chance points.
New Town called a timeout a try to regroup, which was helpful as they managed to come back with a short 4-0 run to bring the score to 5-6. Jurong came back with with three points of their own through a free throw by Lim Xin Yi (#9) and an under basket shot by Tan Ying Yi (#15) to put Jurong up 9-5.
Just before the quarter ended, New Town managed to rally with a quick jumper by Carine Lim (#15) and a deadly 3-pointer by Chua Mei Ling (#8) to give themselves a slim one-point, 10-9 lead.
During the second quarter, New Town proved too strong in the paint as they kept drawing fouls from Jurong while going up to the basket. New Town also stepped up on their defence to limit Jurong to only one basket in the quarter.
With four minutes left in the quarter, Jurong went over the limit on team fouls. This proved very costly for Jurong as they made many unnecessary fouls in the final four minutes to send New Town to the free throw lines on many occasions. New Town scored five points from the line which was almost half of their total score in the whole quarter.
New Town eventually outscored Jurong 12-2 in the quarter to extend their lead to 22-11 at the end of the half.
At the start of the second half, Jurong lookeded re-energised and played like how they did in the first quarter as they tried to fight back to regain the lead. Jurong eventually edged New Town 13-11 in the quarter to cut New Town lead back to a single digit.
Leading 33-24 heading into the final quarter, New Town still looked like the favourite to win the game. But things took a turn for the worse for New Town as their defence went to sleep in the first few minutes of the game to let Jurong go on a 5-0 run in the first five minutes of the quarter. This cut New Town’s lead to just two points. Chua Jia Yun (#13) of Jurong then converted one of two free throws to cut the deficit to just one (30-31).
The New Town supporters kept chanting and even stood to their feet to cheer their team on, but their cheering were to be short lived as a mid range shot was hit by Chermaine Wong (Jurong #7) with just six minutes left on the clock gave Jurong a 32-31 lead. This was their first lead after trailing for most of the game and the small group of Jurong supporters erupted in cheers.
New Town were not out of the game yet as they came back strong by hitting two of their shots to take back the lead 35-32. The atmosphere was tense as Jurong piled on the pressure as they tried to draw level by shooting 3-pointers. But it was to no avail as they just couldn’t hit their shots. Eventually, New Town took the win by going on a 4-2 run to end the game.
With this win, New Town move into the West Zone final where they will face the 2012 West Zone runners-up, Unity Secondary, who beat Kranji Secondary. This is the first time in recent years that New Town have advanced to the final. Their 2011 and 2012 campaigns both ended in the first round.
Score by Quarter
New Town vs Jurong
1st Q: 10-9
2nd Q: 12-2 (22-11)
3rd Q: 11-13 (33-24)
4th Q: 8-10 (39-34)
Top Scorers
New Town
Amanda Ng (#14) — 13 points
Jurong
Lim Xin Yi (#9) — 14 points
Jurong Roster
Nur Diyana Bte Azmi (#4), Syahidah Bte Mohd Hashim (#5), Valerie Ker Liew Ee (#6), Chermaine Wong Jia Qi (#7), Tan Yan li Anabel (#8), Lim Xin Yi (#9), Nur Syairah Sukadi (#10), Ong Ying Xuan (#11), Tiffany Yew Siew Lan (#12), Chua Jia Yun (#13), Nur Shahidah Bte Mohamad Saleh (#14), Tan Ying Yi (#15)
New Town Roster
Nichole Tan Wan Qian (#4), Grace Wong (#5), Noelle Ng Wan Jing (#6), Poh Nicole (#7), Chua Mei Ling (#8), Leo Swee Tze (#9), Tricia Yeo (#10), Regina Chua Pei Jun (#11), Amanda Lur Jia Yi (#12), Jody Ng Jin Yi (#13), Amanda Ng Guang Lyn (#14), Carine Lim (#15)
2013 West Zone B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship — fixtures and results
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