Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Laura Lee/Red Sports
Jayne Tan (SIN #8) scored a game-high 32 points for her team. (Photo 1 © Laura Lee/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Tuesday, June 09, 2015 — Singapore dominated from the tip off to thrash Vietnam 99–58 in their first match of the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games women’s basketball tournament.
Forward Jayne Tan (#8) poured in a game-high 32 points, including 10 shots from beyond the arc, while Lim Jia Min (#6) added another 14 as all of Singapore’s players got on the score sheet. Vietnam’s Ngoan Huynh scored a team-high 14 points.
Singapore found their range early on, raining down 13 three-pointers in the first quarter. Vietnam, stunned by the accuracy of their hosts, struggled to contest any of the shots and found themselves 17–40 down by the end of the first quarter.
Strong rebounding was key for the home side as they continued to boss Vietnam for the rest of the match. Though Vietnam played better basketball in the third quarter, it was over as a contest by the end of the third period as the home team led 79–38 at that point.
The fourth was a mere formality as Singapore held off the challenge of Vietnam with both teams cancelling each other out, scoring 20 points each. Jayne nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to round up what was a comfortable victory for Singapore.
Despite the win, Jayne felt there were a lot of things to improve on. “Our defense need work. We were in foul trouble in every quarter even though we were leading. We should not have that kind of trouble when we are leading. In a match like this, the performance is the focus rather than the amount of points scored,” said Jayne.
“Vietnam was a team we knew little about so we just wanted to go all out against them. For other teams, we have played them before. I think the nervousness showed in the way we defended,” added the forward.
Of her 10 three-pointers, she said, “We had a lot of open shots and they were good shots so it was the right decision to take them. It was not any special tactic by the team.”
Singapore will next play Indonesia, Wednesday, June 10 at 6pm at the OCBC Arena as they seek to achieve their target of a bronze medal.
Quarter by Quarter scores
1st Quarter: 40–17
2nd Quarter: 24-9 (64-26)
3rd Quarter: 15-12 (79-38)
4th Quarter: 20-20 (99-58)
Singapore’s Roster
Shermaine See (#4), Chan Chu Yin (#5), Lim Jia Min (#6), Cheryl Poon (#7), Sarah Tan (#8), Sharlene Li (#9), Alanna Lim (#10), Koh Wei Bin (#11), Priscilla Han (#12), Yoshida Yukie (#13), Tang Choy Ting (#14), Pauline Ang (#15)
Vietnam Roster
Thuy Lu (#0), Nhan Bui (#1), Bay Pham (#4), Den Luu (#6), Bich Nguyen (#7), Ngoan Huynh (#8), Nga Trat (#9), Anh Linh (#11), Thanh Truong (#12), Trang Bui (#15), Thuy Pam (#16), Thuyen Nguyen (#20)
Desperate request for 2 tickets to tonight’s women’s basketball game! Anyone out there can help? My daughter’s playing…
Singapore’s top scorer’s name is Jayne Sarah Tan (#8) with her first name Jayne, and Sarah her middle name. Kindly address her as Jayne Tan.
This is her sister writing in for this correction as it would be appreciated that she should be addressed correctly and be given credit as a national athlete in a proper manner.
Hi Joanne, thanks for pointing that out. The announcer kept announcing her as Sarah Tan, after every one of the 10 three pointers she made. Also, when the media addressed her as Sarah, we weren’t corrected and that led to our confusion. Nevertheless, thanks for pointing it out and we’ll make the necessary changes 🙂
You only changed the heading leh. All the “Sarah’s” in the article still not amended. Either way go Team Singapore!
Thank you so much! Yes, the commentator also had to be corrected and later addressed her as Jayne. Appreciate your correction and your article 🙂 GO TEAM SINGAPORE!!