Victoria JC batter Dunman High in girls' A Division Basketball quarter-finals

Story by REDintern Alan Chiang, Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

Singapore Basketball Centre, Monday, May 4, 2009 - Victoria JC got off to a great start after defeating Dunman High School 54-20 in a one-sided affair of the girls A Division Basketball Championship.

The 2007 champion, Victoria JC proved that they were no easy opponents to overcome after staking a convincing victory over Dunman High School. They had a star in Clara (VJC #14) who came up huge with 15-point contribution for the game.

The game set off to a bright note for Victoria as Sarah (VJC #5) sprinted her way to the basket right after winning the tip-off. Within the next four minutes, Victoria earned a 7-point lead at 9-2. Points began to flow again for both sides as Victoria claimed the first quarter, 13-6.

Victoria then started the second quarter as they left off earlier. They ran riot on Dunman High as all six different players were on the score board. Wan Ting (DHS #11) was the only person who scored the dismal single point for Dunman High in the second period.

The surprise of the day came down to Kimberly (DHS #13) where she mistaken her offensive court and helped score for Victoria JC just after the restart of the third quarter. She was substituted immediately to put off any embarrassment on the court. Nonetheless, Victoria gained full possession of the game and continued to drill their shots to increase their lead to 30 points by the end of the third quarter.

However, Dunman High did not let their heads down in the final quarter. They went on a 6-0 run with points coming from Jiaxin (#6,) Xin Rui (#10) and Lydia (#11). In order to brush up the defensive works, Victoria JC coach called for a time-out with 5:23 remaining to sort things out. The team talk was vital as they upheld their shape on the court and made their authority felt throughout the final minutes. They went on to clinch the match at 54-20.

On the other court, Temasek JC earned a hard-fought victory against National JC after a strong run in the final quarter. They won narrowly, 39-37.

Starting line-up
VJC: Yin Ling (#4), Sarah (#5), Lydia (#11), Clara (#14), Botin (#15)
DHS: Yi Chen (#4), Qian Ye (#6), Lichang (#10), Wan Ting (#11), Jia Hui (#12)

Scores by quarter
1st Q: VJC 13 - DHS 6
2nd Q: VJC 12 - DHS 1
3rd Q: VJC 17 - DHS 5
4th Q: VJC 12 - DHS 8

Top scorer
VJC:
Clara (#14) - 15 points
Kimberly (#13) - 9 points

DHS:
Wan Ting (#11) - 9 points