Story by REDIntern Alan Chiang. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports
Both sides vying for possession of the ball. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Singapore Basketball Centre, Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - Victoria Junior College survived an early scare to overcome Temasek Junior College 66-37 in an A Division girls’ basketball quarter-final match.
Victoria JC maintained their 100 per cent record in the quarter-finals as they made it two wins out of two after conquering Temasek JC.
Victoria JC roared into the match with a 4-0 lead before Temasek JC tied the game with contributions from Hong Shanmin (TJC #4) and Ruby Phong (TJC #9). Temasek JC managed to gain possession later on to lead by three points but Sarah Cheong (VJC #5) drilled a good-looking 3-pointer to tie the match at 10-10.
But Temasek JC earned a 2-point lead at the end of the first quarter through Yap Hui San (#7) as she nailed a long range 2-pointer.
The second quarter was a tight encounter between the two teams with both sides cancelling out each other's leads as they went point-for-point.
Lydia Chiew (VJC #11) had a 7-point contribution in the second quarter alone with one vital 3-pointer. Her teammates, Sin Xin Ping (#12) and Jeanette Lim (#7) also contributed from the outside line. But it was the overall team performance from Temasek JC which helped extend their lead to three points by half time at 27-24.
At the restart, Victoria JC sparked a 7-0 run through Clara Chua (#14), Teo Xin Rui (#10) and Ong Jiaxin (#6) to take a 3-point lead. However, the game was tied again at 31-31 after He Ran (TJC #5) hit four consecutive points, who proved to be the only scorer for Temasek JC in the third quarter.
With 3:13 left, Kimberly Hor (VJC #13) drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to three points and soon, it was increased to seven points after Melissa Low (#8) converted two free throws and another a two-point contribution from Kimberly (#13).
Victoria JC appeared the stronger side in the final quarter as Temasek JC lost their engine and the will to fight on. They were massively outscored by a resurgent Victoria JC 28-6. Worse still, they allowed six different Victoria JC players to place their names on the score board.
Victoria JC became one of the first three teams to qualify for the semi-finals with Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution booking their places in subsequent matches.
In another match, National Junior College had to wait till the dying minutes to clinch a 35-31 victory over Dunman High. They will face powerhouse Victoria JC in their next match-up while Dunman High is virtually out of the competition with two losses.
The fight for final semi-final spot will see National JC and Temasek JC battle each other out.
Match Statistics
Scores by quarter
1st Q: TJC 12 VJC 10
2nd Q: TJC 15 VJC 14
3rd Q: TJC 4 VJC 14
4th Q: TJC 6 VJC 28
Top scorers
Lydia Chiew (VJC #11) - 14 points
Hong Shanmin (TJC #4) - 13 points
He Ran (TJC #5) - 10 points
Sin Xin Ping (VJC #12) - 9 points
TJC players pass the ball before it gets intercepted. (Photo 2 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Lydia (VJC, #11) going for a lay up. (Photo 3 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Elaine (VJC #9) aims for the net as a TJC player comes from behind to block. (Photo 4 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Lydia (VJC, #11) tries to get past Shanmin (TJC, #4). (Photo 5 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Kimberly (VJC, #13) goes in to block a TJC player from scoring. (Photo 6 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Shanmin (TJC, #4) anticipates a rebound as a VJC player is about to shoot. (Photo 7 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
VJC’s defenders close in on Shanmin (TJC, #4). (Photo 8 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Shanmin (TJC, #4) goes for a lay up. (Photo 9 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Denise (TJC, #10) aims as Xin Rui (VJC, #10) reaches to block. (Photo © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Keep it up! Although you step on my toes, but you still uphold Temasek sprit! Keep it up and fight! I won’t feel pain but it’s a strong encouragement.
Hi all,
First and foremost, we would like to apologise to the redsports crew for causing such a commotion here.
We understand that this website is for all to voice out their opinions, and we do recognise the fact that the writer’s view is based on the game played that day.
We are thankful that our game is featured in redsports and we would gladly take in all negative and positive comments.
We will continue to work hard for our next two games!(:
Hi wadeva,
I didn’t assume they are, I said they shouldn’t have to be because judging from all the emotional outburst comments and loose language, they are a suggestion of how that very line may unintentionally strike a chord of discomfort with the TJ players.
While we are understanding of your emotional discomforts, can I also suggest that you learn to read stories with a mature mind and not allow hormones or emotions cloud your perception. Any neutral party reading this story will not react the way you do.
And if you are a TJ player or student, then if there is anything negative about TJ that has emerged from this story, it would be how despite TJ’s demonstrated tenacity on-court, its a pity they can’t handle themselves equally well and composed off-court.
william: what do you know? if you talk like you know so much, get down on the court and play. lets see you play with a team of 9 players and go easy.
jan: tjc players are not disgraced by that line ‘lost the will to fight on’. dont assume anything.
les: if the writer has made a mistake in his report, he should change it. there is nothing wrong with comments telling him to change it. it does not mean that the reader wants to be served. the same goes for wrong captions. and so what if you cant tolerate it? what are you going to do about it? this is a free world, people are allowed to voice their opinions, views and feelings.
Of course there is nothing wrong with readers telling the writer to change the report, ms wadeva.
Of course it’s a free world. People are allowed to voice their opinions, views and feelings. We let the comments through, didn’t we?
But we will not tolerate personal attacks on volunteer contributors and let them go unanswered.
The world is full of people ready to criticise. Few are the people willing to write and shoot to serve the sporting community online.
We will defend our readers and volunteers who contribute stories and not leave them defenceless in the face of anonymous attacks.
So expect a robust reply, missy.
By the way, writing “lessucks@live.sg” as your email says alot about how you approach a discourse online.
okay, so i am a TJC player, and i think we lost out partly because VJ does have good players, so do we :), but they also have more players..we are operating on a team of 9, and i’m very proud of how our team played especially in the first half, all factors considered..
and i think it’s normal for the author to have a bias, every story is biased based on the author, so yeah, i was a bit annoyed by the “lost the will to fight” comment, but it’s understandable..
so chill, everyone 🙂
and we beat dunman high so we’re in the top four now 🙂
To uhhuh: Red Sports is a reader-generated, volunteer-driven site. We post any stories that readers and volunteers would like to write about. The invitation is also extended to you if you would like to write.
All writers have opinions and every sports story is biased. Writers judge based on what they see. If you don’t like the opinion offered, write your own and we will post it as well.
You send it, we post it.
Coming in with your mocking tone and then expecting the volunteer writer to do you the favour of changing the errors seems to me like you live in a world where only you exist and everyone else serves you.
You can share your opinions but if you attack our contributors, we will not tolerate it.
“will” is a state of mind that is not in existence until proven, it is not a ‘fact’ in this case. Scores are the only facts here and we cannot fault the reporter from making a judgment based on factual evidence. It is not fair to judge a story to be “biased” just based on one line, do read the story in its full context, thank you.
Moreover the writer was referring to only the final quarter and not that TJC did not put up a fight for this game. Surely they did as the writer wrote, which shows he’s objective – “The second quarter was a tight encounter between the two teams. Both sides aimed to cancel out each other’s leads as they went point-for-point.”
So there is nothing TJC players should feel disgraced about for the statement of not having/losing the will in the final quarter – it is absolutely normal. It takes trememdous will to recover from such a huge deficit, which is why comeback games are so appealing to the spectators because it is demonstrative and evidential of will power.
wow… you talk so much u play la… why not we just let the players do the talking with their game play huh? i felt that both teams exhibited great sportsmanship, picking up one another after a foul or wdv… it’s not the score that really matter at the end of the day. they’re playing SCHOOL NATIONALS! not NBA… they play for the school… not for money… so lets just watch…
wow… you noe so much you play la… let the sportsmen do the business. we just enjoy it. not the results, it’s the game play. -.-“
i don’t think there is an “easy” match for basketball games. for example, in the boys’ A Div, Anderson JC beat Raffles Institution JC 50-49. that really tells you how much Anderson JC want to win. Also, Innova JC surprise everyone when they beat the defending champion Hwa Chong Institution, 43-42. If TJC were to play well enough, it should be the tight game throughout the match and not trailed by so many points in the last quarter.
a 28-6 run does not mean tj lose the will to fight on because this match is supposed to be an easy game for vj, it was actually a surprise that tj managed to hold on for so long, so a 28-6 run was basically vj returning to their normal standard, not that tj lost the will
another thing, the reporter got it wrong when they say dunman is out of the running, because if they win tj by 7 or more on friday, they will qualify. any victory by dunman with a margin of less than 7 will see nj through. Tj will qualify if they win. all these are based on the assumption that nj will lose to vj. if nj win vj, then nj will qualify.
Please, how else would you explain a 28-6 run? Face the facts, uhhuh, tjc was out-scored 28-6. And that is the fact, so please dont accuse Alan of not getting the facts right.
As the report says, tjc held off vjc for much of the game so it can’t just be a sudden burst of form from vjc right?
Even then, you can’t accuse Alan of being bias as he simply form a conclusion based on the FACTS.
#7 from tjc in 4th para is yap hui san. please make the necessary changes.
just so u know ALAN CHIANG, tjc girls did not lose the will to fight on. their morale was high the entire game. they may have lost but ANYONE can see that they put up a good fight. what kind of a reporter are u when you dont get ur facts right?? there should not be any biased opinion. and u made a mistake in the 4th paragraph. #7 YAP HUI SAN from TEMASEK JC, not jeanette lim from vjc. please, improve on ur writing skills.