By Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports
Rachel Yeo (#12) of SCGS drives against Nurul Afiqah (#10) and Tan Yi Lin (#12) of Anderson for the layup. Yeo scored 12 points in the victory. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
Singapore Basketball Centre, Monday, March 2, 2015 — Balanced offensive play helped Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS) top Anderson Secondary 47–25 in the North Zone B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship final. This is the first North Zone title for the former South Zone champions.
The victory is SCGS’s sixth straight zonal title, including their previous five South Zone titles.
Aisling Lum (#9), Rachel Yeo (#12) and Sophia Ang (#10) led SCGS with 13, 12 and 10 points respectively, while Syrin Hashim (#9) had 11 points for Anderson.
Anderson had no answer against SCGS’s relentless defensive press right from tip-off, as the latter forced six turnovers within the first three minutes and raced off to an 8–0 lead.
After Choo Jie Ying (#8) stopped the run with a good inbound play, Hashim (#9) added a jumper from the charity stripe to reduce the deficit to four points. However, Lum (#9) and Ang (#10) responded with baseline jumpers to help SCGS take an eight-point lead at the end of the quarter.
Despite a lacklustre shooting output in the second quarter, SCGS’s dominance on the offensive boards gave them several second looks at the basket, allowing them to maintain their lead. They tallied 10 offensive rebounds in the quarter, en route to an impressive total of 42.
After the half-time break, Choo (#8), Hashim (#9) and Han Yu Lan (#11) increased their offensive pace and helped Anderson stage a comeback. The trio capitalized on SCGS’s shooting slump and reduced the deficit to 10 points.
However, Ang (#10) silenced Anderson’s attempts as she sparked SCGS to a 7–0 run to take a 14-point lead to enter the final quarter.
SCGS moved the ball well in the final 10 minutes, while Ang (#10) continued her brilliant play. Together with Lum (#9), the pair combined for eight of SCGS’s final 12 points to help close out the 47–25 victory.
“This is our first time playing in the North Zone and we thought that it would be quite a challenge. We were really prepared for the teams in the zone and our strategies were different for each school that we played against,” said Tiana Ng (#5).
The SCGS captain added, “We’re really happy with the win because we’ve trained really hard. Along the way, we grew and became stronger as a team, because we faced tougher opponents in the North Zone than in the South Zone.”
Score by Quarter
Anderson vs SCGS
1st quarter: 6–14
2nd quarter: 4–9 (10–23)
3rd quarter: 11–12 (21–35)
4th quarter: 4–12 (25–47)
Top scorers
Anderson
Syrin Bte Hashim (#9) – 11 points (1 x 3-pointer)
SCGS
Aisling Lum (#9) – 13 points
Rachel Yeo (#12) – 12 points
Sophia Ang (#10) – 10 points
Anderson Roster
Low Jia En (#4), Siti Raudhan (#5), Natasha Utari (#6), Nurul Shafinaz (#7), Choo Jie Ying (#8), Syrin Bte Hashim (#9), Nurul Afiqah (#10), Han Yu Lan (#11), Tan Yi Lin (#12), Carina Yap (#13), Mariam Bte Osman (#14), Foo Ming Xuan (#15)
SCGS Roster
Gladys Khor (#4), Tiana Ng (#5), Larissa Lim (#6), Ruth Leong (#7), Briana Lee (#8), Aisling Lum (#9), Sophia Ang (#10), Caroline Gregory (#11), Rachel Yeo (#12), Shannon Tiong (#13), Ang Chyi Yen (#14)
North Zone B Division Girls’ Basketball Championship — fixtures and results
More photos next page
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