ITE dominate Republic Polytechnic to take women's POL-ITE basketball championship title

Story By REDintern Gerald Goh

Republic Polytechnic Competition Hall, Thursday, August 6, 2009 - The penultimate championship decider between the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and Republic Polytechnic (RP) was played out to a markedly unbalanced 83-67 scoreline in favour of ITE, who grabbed a strong first-half lead and never looked back.

Despite the raucous home support, RP were unable to halt the ITE blitzkrieg which stormed to a 49-21 lead after two quarters, with ITE captain Koh Wei Bin leading the charge both offensively and defensively as RP's attack constantly looked muddled and bereft of ideas.

Right off the bat, RP looked ill-equipped to handle the physical threat of ITE, who proved especially proficient at springing fast breaks when in possession. Koh Hui Jin got ITE underway with a lay-up on one such break, before Jia Jia nailed a three-point shot to put ITE up 5-0.

RP were constantly forced into fouling their opposition, with an RP player committing a particularly flagrant violation as she put an elbow into Wei Bin's face after the ITE captain had intercepted a stray pass.

With RP maxed out on team fouls, Tan Shu Xuan took advantage to drive to the basket and put ITE up 16-5, as RP continued to be penalised throughout the quarter for conceding more team fouls. Wei Bin flung a rebound straight into the path of Avis Yap, who made no mistake in taking ITE's lead to 20-5.

In an increasingly physical stretch of play, RP's #10 hit the deck on her way to the basket under a strong challenge, making both free-throws to narrow the deficit to 24-7.

ITE hit the floor running in the second quarter, as Wei Bin started off a four-pronged move of flowing basketball that Avis Yap finished off with much aplomb. Avis then turned provider a minute later, knocking the ball to Wei Bin to execute a reverse lay-up and put ITE up 39-15.

RP's constant turn-overs were costing them dearly, as Wei Bin intercepted another pass, fumbled the ball to the floor but managed to recover nicely to post the ball as ITE racked up a lopsided 49-19 lead.

The third quarter saw RP's Juliana Ang taking it upon herself to nail a shot from downtown to take the scores to 55-28 and nudge her team into some sort of momentum. A galvanised Lim Jia Min then made one of her free-throws after being fouled, grabbing the offensive rebound and spinning the ball into the net as RP went on an 11-point streak.

Despite the screams of the home support rising to fever pitch, ITE appeared unintimidated as they kept RP at bay with a steady stream of counter-attacks, Jia Jia spinning away on one such fast-break to preserve ITE's lead at 60-39.

The final period heralded the decline of RP's offensive momentum, as the team struggled to string together passes. Chua Hui Xian fell over a pass but did well to retain possession on the deck and present the ball for Jia Min to put in a lay-up, before the RP player popped in another shot almost immediately to drag RP back 68-51.

Wei Bin's athleticism and pace, however, ensured that no RP comeback was forthcoming. Recovering an RP airball, the ITE captain drove across the entire length of the court to make a three-point play, before flicking a neat back-pass to Avis who put ITE up 77-54.

ITE's dominance of the closing minutes meant that RP limited to few opportunities, as Goh Xian Li missed a jumper with 1.1 seconds left on the clock to hand ITE a 83-67 victory and the POL-ITE crown.

Despite the furious battle on the court, both teams showed little animosity after the match, joking easily with opposition players and posing sportingly together for photographs.

RP's Juliana Ang was gracious in conceding the match to ITE.

"ITE were more experienced, we couldn't handle them… Our defence could have been better, though," said Juliana. She also praised ITE's good teamwork and strong individual skill, singling out captain Koh Wei Bin for her exceptional performance.

ITE captain Wei Bin felt the victory was a result of her team's hard work and persistence.

"Even when we led (after the first half) we had to focus on being composed and keep reminding ourselves to carry on the fight," said Wei Bin.

She also revealed that the team had to overcome numerous difficulties in preparing for the competition.

"We didn't train that much, and since my national training was the first priority, it wasn't until recently that we had much time to train together… We also had to remind our team to attend sessions, especially since we're all from different campuses. However, we fight as one, no matter where we come from, we put that aside to win this match," she concluded, beaming.