By Zachary Foo/Red Sports

Rachel Yeo (SCGS #10) lays one in after the fast break. Rachel led her team with 17 points. (Photo 1 © Zachary Foo/Red Sports)

Yio Chu Kang Sports Complex, Wednesday, July 30, 2014 — Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS) defended their zonal title by beating CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) 69–11 in the final of the South Zone C Division Girls’ Basketball Championship. Rachel Yeo (SCGS #10) led all scorers with 17 points, while Joelle Thng (CHIJ(TP) #11), paced her team with four points.

CHIJ(TP) tried to get the ball down low to Joelle Thng (CHIJ(TP) #11) early on, but she was unable to use her size to her advantage in the post. Phoebe Kee (SCGS #15) did a good job of containing her, preventing her from scoring. SCGS stuck to crashing the offensive boards, which gave them the rebounding advantage despite the lack of size in their lineup. SCGS had a balanced offence in the first quarter, as six of their players got onto the score sheet.

The second quarter saw SCGS switch to a full-court press, which gave CHIJ a lot of trouble. Each time SCGS scored the ball, they would get the ball back due to sloppy passing from CHIJ. Rachel Yeo (SCGS #10) did a good job of orchestrating the offence, feeding the ball to her open teammates.

SCGS blew the game open in the third period, going on a 29–1 run. Aisling Lum (SCGS #9), Rachel Yeo (SCGS #10) and Caroline Gregory (SCGS #11) combined to put up 23 points altogether in the period. Aisling (SCGS #9) also hit two three-pointers during this period. CHIJ continued to struggle to break the full-court press, with their solitary point coming on a made free throw.

SCGS held a comfortable lead to start the final quarter with their bench. They did a good job of swinging the ball around to find the open player. By now, SCGS were cruising and they eventually sealed the 69–11 win. They will hope to improve on their nationals result, where they bowed out in the first round last year.

SCGS captain, Rachel Yeo (#10), said, “We are very happy with the win. We had a bad start early on, but we managed to catch up and adjust to the rim. Our fast break was better in this game, but we took too long to adapt to the basket. I hope that we can improve on our nationals result from last year, when we only made it to the first round. We hope to at least make the final this year.”

Scoring by Quarter
Singapore Chinese Girls’ School vs CHIJ (Toa Payoh)
1st Quarter: 11–2
2nd Quarter: 14–2 (25–4)
3rd Quarter: 29–1 (54–5)
4th Quarter: 15–6 (69–11)

Top Scorers
SCGS
Rachel Yeo (#10) – 17 points
Caroline Gregory (#11) – 15 points
Aisling Lum (#9) – 14 points

CHIJ (Toa Payoh)
Joelle Thng (#11) – 4 points

SCGS Roster
Shannon Tiong (#4), Larissa Lim (#5), Ang Chyi Yen (#6), Patricia Orenza (#7), Briana Lee (#8), Aisling Lum (#9), Rachel Yeo (#10), Caroline Gregory (#11), Nadia Ghani (#12), Mabel Anton (#13), Lee Yan (#14), Phoebe Kee (#15)

CHIJ (Toa Payoh) Roster
Kristie Chan (#4), Rachel Leong (#5), Ann-Marie Ross (#6), Rachel Yap (#7), Tania Abraham (#8), Claire Marie Tay (#9), Ann-Marie Yap (#10), Joelle Thng (#11), Isabelle Monteiro (#12), Ang Yan Ning (#13), Rene Siu (#14), Florence Pow (#15)

South Zone C Division Basketball Championship — Fixtures and Results

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