Story and photos by Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports
Valentia Wong (CC #21) with the between-the-leg crossover move to get past her defender. She had a game-high 20 points. (Photo 1 © Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports)
Clementi Sports Hall, Wednesday, April 5, 2017 — Christ Church Secondary (CC) stunned North Vista Secondary (NV) 57-34 in the National B Division Basketball Championship.
With this win, Christ Church have a 5-1 win-loss record and emerge as Group Y winners. They will advance and play against SCGS in the semi-finals.
This being their first loss of the Nationals, North Vista now have a 5-1 win-loss record. As Unity had defeated Yishun Town in the other game, North Vista advance as second-place finishers in Group Y and will play against Jurong in the semi-final.
Christ Church got off to a quick start. They scored the first two points of the match with their usual quick transition offense after North Vista had missed their shot.
Christ Church continued scoring in transition but North Vista quickly answered with a three each from Tiong Zhi Wen (NV #2) and Jamie Chang (NV #13) to cut the lead Christ Church had to just four.
Christ Church were up 10-6 after the first quarter.
In the second, Christ Church got to work on the defensive end. They were able to stop North Vista from getting into a groove. With each change of possession, Valentia Wong (CC #21) of Christ Church went coast to coast for the fast-break to score. She also made several good passes to open teammates who knocked down the shots to increase their lead farther.
While North Vista were trying to fight back, their shots just could not fall due to good defense played by Christ Church. Even though they tried to contain Christ Church with their full-court press defense, Christ Church were able to break the press easily and scored with the transition offense.
North Vista simply had no answer for Christ Church’s efficient shooting. Frustrated, North Vista’s Lydia Ang (NV #7) tried to work harder on the defensive end but Christ Church were able to make use of that to draw fouls which got Lydia Ang (NV #7) into foul trouble.
Frustrations grew as North Vista players continued racking up fouls to get into the penalty early. Their coach, unsatisfied with the calls, received a technical foul for voicing his opinions. This led to free throws for Christ Church once again.
Christ Church continued their stellar shooting performance. No matter how hard North Vista tried, they could not contain Christ Church’s shooting streak. Christ Church were at a comfortable lead of 38-20 after the first three quarters.
In the fourth, North Vista did not want to go down without a fight and came out guns blazing. They played with higher intensity as a whole and were able to get into a groove to make their shots.
However, it came as a blow for North Vista when Lydia Ang (NV #7) fouled out of the game. This caused a huge disadvantage on North Vista’s offensive and defensive end as Lydia (NV #7) was a key player in North Vista’s plays.
Despite that, the remaining players fought hard against Christ Church’s continued shooting streak.
However, with no answer for Christ Church’s shooting spree, North Vista were eventually outgunned by Christ Church.
Christ Church went on to take the game 57-34.
Christ Church’s captain, Tan Hui Xuan (CC #25), commented, “We seized every opportunity to get to the basketball and then we just went for it. Our team defense was great because we managed to stop North Vista with it and that was what helped us secure the victory. Also I would like to thank North Vista for the good game and commend them for fighting hard till the final second.”
“To my teammates, thank you for training super hard every Sunday. Let’s take down the next two games.”
Captain of North Vista, Yuki Kung (NV #3), mentioned, “We didn’t defend properly at the start which led to many backdoor cuts. Also we didn’t make the effort to get in for our defensive rebounds so they (Christ Church) had many second chance points.”
Her teammate, Jamie Chang (NV #13), added, “Our mentality weren’t strong and we started very slowly. We let them lead us then we had to chase back and it was very tiring to chase. They were able to score easy baskets due to our poor defense while we had to work real hard to score with our plays.”
“We thought we were out of Nationals already, but turned out we have a second chance so we got to fight harder. We learnt our lesson today and will definitely fight harder to box out more to secure rebound and defend as a team.”
Scoring by Quarter
Christ Church vs North Vista
1st Q: 10-6
2nd Q: 22-9 (32-15)
3rd Q: 6-5 (38-20)
4th Q:19-14 (57-34)
Top Scorers
Christ Church
Valentia Wong (#7) – 20 pts
Gladys Ng (#29) – 14 pts
Tan Hui Xuan (#25) – 12 pts
North Vista
Lydia Ang (#7) – 8 pts
Yuki Kung (#3) – 7 pts
Christ Church Roster
Valentia Wong (#21), Wong Wei Li (#22), Chew Sheng Xuan (#23), Zafira Alyssa (#24), Tan Hui Xuan (#25), Shannevie Teo (#26), Mildred Por (#28), Gladys Ng (#29), Chen Xiao Juan (#30), Peggy Goh (#31), Kau Wen Qi (#32), Sharifah Fahimah (#35)
North Vista Roster
Tiong Zhi Wen (#2), Yuki Kung Zhixin (#3), Poh Ke Hui (#4), Kweh Jia Qi Joli (#5), Teo Zi En (#6), Ang Zi Yi, Lydia (#7), Lum Yi En Charis (#9), Nurruzinna Binte Rohaizat (#10), Ong Qian Ying, Nikki (#11), Chang Yoke Suan, Jamie (#13), Ros Ellisyah Nur Umairah (#14)
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