Story and photos by Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports
Amanda Lim (NTU #9) looks for a way in. She had a game-high 22 points. (Photo 1 © Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports)
NTU The Wave, Friday, September 15, 2017 — Nanyang Technological University (NTU) led a second-quarter offensive surge to propel themselves to the 74-55 victory over National University of Singapore (NUS) in the Singapore University Games Basketball Championship.
NTU improves to a 2-0 win-loss record after defeating Singapore Management University (SMU) in their previous game. They will face Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in their next game.
On the other hand, this loss gives NUS a 1-1 win-loss record. They defeated SUTD previously and will be up against SMU next.
NTU got off to a strong start as Au Zi Yi (NTU #18) knocked down a three-point shot. NTU were hitting their shots and quickly established a lead. Meanwhile, NUS could not find their mark and were missing open shots. Edna Lim (NUS #9) recognized that and drove in more for layups, drawing fouls in the process. She scored the first five points for NUS from free-throws.
The NUS players also started to find their groove and make their shots after that. They hustled harder defensively to prevent easy baskets from NTU and capitalized on the mismatch and open baskets they had. Edna (NUS #9) hit a buzzer-beating three to put NUS up 18-12 after the first quarter. Edna (NUS #9) led her team with 20 points.
Despite that, NTU took the break to compose themselves and they came into the second quarter guns blazing. Led by Amanda Lim (NTU #9) who scored 12 of her game-high 22 points, NTU heated up in the second quarter to torch NUS for 29 points while limiting them to just nine points. Shermaine See (NTU #5) also added 20 points of her own.
NTU continued their offensive streak from the momentum gained in the second quarter and stayed hot from three-point range. They made a total of 10 three-point shots with four each coming from Amanda (NTU #9) and Shermaine (NTU #5) and two from Zi Yi (NTU #18).
NTU eventually defeated NUS 74-55.
Amelia Lee (NTU #10) commented, “At the start, I think we started to panic when our shots weren’t falling and everything wasn’t going well. But as the game progressed, we defended better and started to calm down on every possession. So once we calmed down, everything fell into place and we started to gain momentum in our plays. Shots were made and everything started to move on smoothly.”
Shermaine (NTU #5), the captain of NTU, added, “I think it was more like we focused more on defense first. When we focused more on defense, our offense slowly came as well. As we slowly managed to stop them then we managed to score a bit more, our confidence started to come up. Most of us can shoot pretty well, but when we panic and we don’t have confidence, we tend to hesitate and that is when our percentage drop. So when our confidence is up, that is when everything flows.”
Scoring by Quarters
NTU vs NUS
1st Q: 12-18
2nd Q: 29-09 (41-27)
3rd Q: 15-14 (56-41)
4th Q: 18-14 (74-55)
Top Scorers
NTU
Lim Zhi Yan Amanda (#9) – 22 pts
See Kai Ting Shermaine (#5) -20 pts
NUS
Lim Yi Jieh Edna (#9) – 20 pts
Yeo Yin Siew Bernice (#4) – 14 pts
NTU Roster
Ong Sze Ming (#2), Sheryl Ng Xue Qi (#4), See Kai Ting Shermaine (#5), Barbara Ojeda Corominas (#7), Lim Zhi Yan Amanda (#9), Lee Yilin Amelia (#10), Jeanette Kee Yanru (#11), Woon Wei Jing (#12), Chen Jingyi (#13), Lim Boon Yee (#14), Yap Winnchis (#15), Foo Yuan Ru (#16), Au Zi Yi (#18), Lee Yu Zhen (#21), Yip Xin Yi Louise (#77)
NUS Roster
Yeo Yin Siew Bernice (#4), Tan Jia Qi (#5), Chua Jin Xia, Valerie (#6), Carisia Lee Jia Yu (#7), Chng Shi Qi Mavis (#8), Lim Yi Jieh Edna (#9), Ong Jia Le (#10), Tang Choy Ting (#11), Michelle Chew Jia Er (#12), See Shi Min Yvonne (#14), Chok Xin Yan (#15), Kong Yu Qi (#21), Kristerbel Pang (#29), Tan Yu Xuan (#59)
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