Story and photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Singapore Basketball Centre, Tuesday, August 12 , 2008 – Raffles Girls’ School affirmed their position as a basketball powerhouse when they swept aside Zhonghua Secondary 46-26 in a C Division Basketball Championship quarter-final match. With nine National Girls’ titles under their belt since 1996, this win brings them one step closer to another championship.
Stephanie (RGS, #11) started off her team’s scoring streak with the first basket. RGS showed their dominance right in the first quarter. Working with her team mates, Stephanie managed to put in six points out of the 14 points scored in the first quarter for her team. Zhonghua started off slow, but still managed to put in a respectful six points.
The second quarter saw Zhonghua push hard to close the gap. With an eight-point gap between the two teams, Debbie Ngo (Zhonghua, #11) made many attempts to drive through the right flank to the basket. Facing strong defending from Ivana (RGS, #8) and Stephanie (RGS, #11), Debbie managed to score four points during this quarter. The strong offense by Zhonghua probably kept RGS busy, as they only managed to score 6 points compared to Zhonghua’s 9 points.
The score at half time stood at 20-15 in favour of RGS. With a five-point gap, the game could have gone either way. The Zhonghua players pressed on, trying their very best to break through to score. Several times, their rebounds were caught by their opponents who drove it back. However, several shot attempts were unsuccessful, bouncing off the rim of the basket and leading to turnovers.
The RGS side rotated their players, giving them some much needed rest on the bench. However, they did kept the pressure up, scoring nine points in the third quarter. The Zhonghua side, slowly showing signs of weariness, persevered. Sheena Ting (Zhonghua, #14) put in two baskets, scoring four out of her team’s six points in the quarter.
Having a chance to catch some rest on the bench, several RGS players stormed back onto the court, and started to score point after point. They grabbed several rebounds and capitalised on the unsuccessful shots by Zhonghua. RGS blitzed a stunning 19 points in the fourth quarter, against Zhonghua’s 5 points.
The Zhonghua players still carried themselves well, exhibiting no sign low morale or aggressiveness. They did not employ any rough tactics to go on a last-minute scoring frenzy. Instead, they played at their own pace, making sure that every shot counted.
The RGS players also did not show any sign of complacency, chasing every ball that left the hands of the Zhonghua players. In the last 30 seconds, RGS managed to steal the ball away, and Rachael Lo (RGS, #13) finished the game with a well executed 3-pointer. Final score: 48-26.
Top scorers:
Stephanie (RGS, #11) – 13 points
Sheena Ting (Zhonghua, #14) – 11 points
Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates in any of the photos, feel free to leave the names behind in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!
RGS:
4: Cheryl Pay
7: Ong Qiuhui
8: Ivana Low
11: Stephanie Siow
13: Rachael Lo
wow normally nan chiau pri de bball ppl and bball all very good one sia. like weixian from ngee ann and one of the sengkang player who is also in combined sch
qiu hui is from ncps!
qiu hui all de way..
Zhonghua #11 – Debbie Ngo
Zhonghua #14 – Sheena Ting
Zhonghua #08 – Sheila Chua
rgs #13 is Rachael Lo! (: (: (: