chua chu kang primary senior girls west zone basketball

The Chua Chu Kang Primary senior girls’ team. (Photo courtesy of Dominic Siew)

Kranji Primary School, Friday, March 7, 2014 – Chua Chu Kang Primary School needed the bravery of Koh Yu Qian (CCKPS #12) to emerge champions of the West Zone Senior Girls Basketball Championship. She scored the all-important basket with three seconds left to help her team beat Kranji Primary 44–39.

(Kranji #15) led all scorers with 18 points, while Koh Yu Qian (CCKPS #12) paced her team with 15 points.

This is Chua Chu Kang’s first Senior Girls’ zonal championship since 2012. They will now move on to the National Championships in hopes of defending their national title.

Kranji started the game on a 7–0 run to take an early lead. Chua Chu Kang players were nervy and many passes were misplayed. The usual fast attacking offence of Chua Chu Kang was nowhere to be seen as they could not find a way past the zone defence of the huge and physical Kranji players.

The usual calm shooting by the Chua Chu Kang players finally paid off towards the end of the quarter but they still trailed by one (8–9) at the end of the first.

The second quarter was even worse for Chua Chu Kang. Kranji #15 caused many problems for the Chua Chu Kang defense as they simply had no answer for her powerful drives under basketball. Chua Chu Kang once again depended on their shooting to keep the score close but they still trailed 17–24 at half-time.

Chua Chu Kang showed a higher quality of offense and defence in the third quarter. They adopted a tight man-to-man defence and this disrupted Kranji’s rhythm. The sudden change in offense by Chua Chu Kang caused many Kranji turnovers and mistakes. Richa Rachel John (CCKPS #11) made many crucial interceptions and this resulted in Chua Chu Kang leveling the game within the first few minutes and taking the lead. Kranji had no answer to Chua Chu Kang’s high intensity play and fitness level and they were outscored 21–3 in the quarter.

Trailing 27–38 at the start of the fourth quarter, Kranji began to turn the game back in their favour. Chua Chu Kang started to miss their jumpers on offence and Kranji took advantage of that by trimming the deficit slowly. Good ball movement and strong drives to the basket by their #15 drove Kranji’s run, cutting the lead of Chua Chua Kang to three points with three minutes left. It was a tense affair as each team made many time-outs in the final few minutes.

The game was finally killed off when Valarie Lim (CCKPS #7) won a crucial rebound and drove towards the basket. She made a perfect pass to Koh Yu Qian (CCKPS #12) who then drove towards the basket despite facing the huge Kranji players in zone defence. She made the basket, sending the Chua Chu Kang supporters into a frenzy. After one last defensive stop, Chua Chu Kang were able to seal their first West Zone title, winning 44–39.

Kindra Sim (CCKPS #10), said, “I am really happy and proud of the team. We persevered throughout the game and never gave up even when we were seven points down. We hope to make the national finals and we will do our best to get there.”

Chua Chu Kang teacher-in-charge, Dominic Siew, said, “I am just glad we managed to hold onto the win. Kranji Primary has a great Senior Girls team and we are looking forward to meeting them in the national final again. This game also exposed many weakness of our team, and we will be addressing them in training soon. For now, the team will just like to enjoy the win!”