Story and pictures by Lai Jun Wei.
Singapore Basketball Centre, Tuesday, March 18, 2008 – Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) let out a huge sigh of relief when they barely overcame Dunman Secondary 41-40 after a nerve-wracking fourth quarter in their National Championship first round game.
This B Division Girls National Championship game started at a relatively slow pace with RGS a little easy on the aggression but doing enough to walk off with a 8-6 first quarter lead.
The second quarter started to heat up when Dunman put pressure on the RGS side, managing eventually to tie the game at 20-20 by the end of the second quarter.
With both teams neck and neck, the game could have gone either way with Dunman all fired up to take the game from the 2007 B Division runners up. They increased pressure and put up excellent plays, scoring nine points in the third quarter while limiting RGS to just three to lead 29-23.
The fourth quarter was make or break for RGS. As the girls from Raffles struggled to catch up, Dunman tried their best to maintain their lead but eventually allowed RGS to tie the game at 39-39. An untimely foul by Raffles with 45 seconds to go saw the referee award a free throw to Dunman. Dunman made no mistake in converting the free throw to go one point up, causing RGS to call a timeout to regroup while their supporters were on edge.
When the game resumed, the cheers from both side grew louder, with the coach from a team not involved in the game even shouting “Defend!” to the players of this match. With some jostling on the court, Dew (Raffles #10) managed to gain possession and she made a half court dash to execute a lay up to make it 41-40, heightening the tension with 19 seconds remaining.
With nine seconds to go, RGS let possession slip and the girls both teams descended on the loose ball and got into a snatching game. Dunman hopes were raised when possession was awarded to Dunman. As the Dunman players tried desperately to score, they lost possession to RGS in the last three seconds of the game. As shouts of “Hold! Hold the ball!” came from the Raffles’ supporters, the clock ticked down to zero, leaving Dunman despondent and RGS heaving a sigh of relief.
Raffles might have won the match, but Dunman deserved to be commended as well. Having held the lead for so long, their teamwork should have given them the win. Sadly, Lady Luck was just not smiling on them.
Top scorer:
Dunman #14 – 16 points
Ed’s note: If you recognise yourself or your teammates in any of the photos, do leave your names behind in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!
yeah of course vienna is coool. and raffles was just off form 🙂
vienna is damm cool please.
raffles’s standard is there larh.
is just whether they are on form or not.
raffles lousy wad ..
hello.
On the 2nd/3rd photo {Vivien Cheok (#6,RGS) and Hsiang Cheng Chia (#7, RGS) try to stop Qiu Ru (#7, Dunman) from advancing. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei)} , number 6 is Hsiang Cheng Chia and numebr 7 is Vienna. You got the names mixed up.
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dunman girls keep it up don give up to anything as there is still tomorrow for u all just all the best for the next 2 games we all suporters for dunman will surport u all guys de
RGS #10 and #11 are my favourite!
Jun Wei, thank you for volunteering with the photo taking(the pictures are so pro) and covering the match sotry. This is one of the longest articles that I have read here regarding GIRLS basketball. It’s about time that the girl teams get a bit more attention and coverage. Great start by your effort! And well done to both teams for a great display of team work and fighting spirit.
second pic is #7 not #1
RGS number 10 is Dew.
The one who scored the game winning basket wow
3 cheers for Jun Wei for covering so many games this week. He is a volunteer and we wouldn’t have any stories without him.
As for pointing out mistakes, if you would like to help us edit, please feel free to volunteer.
well actually i think both teams should be commended. Dunman for putting up such a strong fight, the fact that they managed to hold Raffles for so long deserves them some commendation.
of course Raffles deserves their fair share too. it was that last surge and fighting spirit that gave them the win.
good job girls!
But good job jun wei for covering so many stories. without you no stories. thks 😀
why shld their teamwork be given the win? it shld be commended on raffles valiant effort to fight back to secure the win?
is not dunman’s 1 lah zzz . is dunman ‘s 7 , qiuru.
it was obvious dunman would have won. not because of the scores and everything during each quaters, but is because of how they played throughout.
dunman played better and they deserved to win. it was sheer luck that raffles won. so now dunman have to win nanyang and anderson to get in next round):
it would be difficult then. but jiayous! 😀
dunman
#14-mei geok
#11-lena
#7-qiu ru
#15-cecilia
#6-elouis
the english is bad.
The two Raffles players just MISS the rebound.
Plural not singular..
dunman
#11-lena
#7-qiu ru
#15-cecilia
#6-elouis
The Raffles players look set to intercept a pass by Dunman. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei
no 7 is vienna chua beside her is hannah
Raffles #6 and #7 try to stop Dunman’s #1 from proceeding forward. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei)
raffles #7 is vienna
The two Raffles players just misses the rebound. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei)
the girl nearest to the ball name is dew and the other one beside her is jean hui
i always though rg was much better than dunman. dunman sec only got 4th in their zone and raffles got 1st. how is it possible that it was such a tough fight? did rg play badly