Story by REDintern Ng Enna. Photos by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports

Jurong Secondary vs Unity National B Division Basketball Championship

Leow Jie Yi (Jurong #4) makes a drive to the basket. Although she fouled out in the final minutes, she scored eight points and dictated the plays for her side. (Photo 1 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)

Clementi Sports Hall, Monday, April 19, 2010 - Dark horses Jurong Secondary beat previously undefeated Unity Secondary 44-38 to move on to the National B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship semi-finals.

"The girls have very strong fighting spirit and they have trained hard. They played with a mindset to win by at least six points (in order to qualify for the semi-finals) and they achieved it," said Jurong's coach, Mr. Vincent Koh.

Unity drew first blood when Diane Seow (Unity, #10) sunk a free throw and a basket shortly after. Iffah Syafiqah (Jurong, #15) soon replied with a layup and both teams were neck-and-neck.

With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, Anthea Chan (Jurong #14) scored another free throw to draw level with Unity at 8-8. Jurong went on to score another four points before Unity called for a timeout.

Upon resumption, Anthea used her height to her advantage as she got the offensive rebound to score and extend Jurong’s lead to six, but Diane and Olivia Lee (Unity #7) replied with two points each for Unity to end the quarter trailing 12-14.

It was a nerve-wracking second quarter for Unity as Jurong went on a scoring spree and limited them to only two points, which were scored by Olivia. Jurong held a 10-point lead at the end of the first half.

The third quarter, however, started badly for Jurong. Leow Jie Yi’s (Jurong #4) pass to Jocelin See (Jurong, #11) was unnoticed by the latter, and was intercepted by Diane, who sprinted across the court and scored. Olivia and Au Li Jun (Unity #14) scored again shortly to give Jurong a scare, forcing them to call for another timeout.

Unity’s defence was finally breached with two minutes and 28 seconds to play in the third quarter when Shafikah Sulaiman (Jurong #7) scored with a layup. She scored again shortly after, and teammate Jie Yi followed with a layup, as Jurong sought to re-establish their double-digit lead. But Siti Amnah Senen (Unity #6) scored another two points in an attempt to reduce the deficit, and the quarter ended with Jurong leading 31-24.

The final quarter saw Diane of Unity and Jie Yi of Jurong fouling out. Both of them were key players of their respective teams.

Diane fouled out early in the quarter after Jurong went on an 8-2 run to extend their lead. Jie Yi scored again to establish a 15-point lead, forcing Unity to call for a timeout with 3:11 remaining.

After the timeout, Janice Ong (Unity #9) responded with a three-pointer and a layup, and Li Jun chipped in another two points. Sylvia Tan (Jurong #6) scored a free throw before Janice made another basket as Unity fought hard to stay in the game.

The aggressive game play got more violent and it was down to free throws towards the end of the game.

Ramona Wong (Unity #15) scored one free throw and Janice was awarded another two after Jie Yi fouled out, but she could only make one. Li Jun scored one more free throw soon after, bringing the score to 42-38 with Jurong leading.

The crowd was hysterical as Jurong needed to beat Unity by six points to be guaranteed a place in the semi-finals.

Jurong finally got the six-point lead they needed when Michelle Tsen made both her free throws in the final seconds of the game to hand Unity a 44-38 defeat.

Both Dunman Secondary and Jurong from Group X advanced to the semi-finals, but Unity were eliminated due to an inferior points difference in the head-to-head matchup between the three teams after they all finished with identical win-loss records.

Please go to next page for stats and photos