Story by REDintern Iman Hashim. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Mayflower players celebrating their victory. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Thursday, January 28, 2016 — History was made as Mayflower Secondary’s B Division Netball team recorded the first win of their team’s history, edging past ACS (International) 26–17. The Secondary Fours in the Mayflower team are the pioneer netball batch of their school as the sport was only introduced as a CCA in 2013.
In the context of the South Zone B Division Netball Championship, the win leaves Mayflower’s win-loss record at 1–1 after they lost their opening match 16–23 to Holy Innocents’ High School. For ACS (International), this is their second loss of the season after also losing to Crescent Girls’ School 14–30.
The match began as a very tight affair, with the teams tied at 5–5 in the first quarter. Possession was very evenly contested, with both teams taking turns to intercept passes and prevent the ball from getting to the respective Goal Shooters.
But by the second quarter, ACS (International) looked slightly weary as Mayflower became more aggressive in their play, complemented by some prolific shooting. This allowed Mayflower to open up a four-point lead going into the third quarter.
ACS tried to stage a comeback in the third quarter, scoring six points. Alas, this was evenly matched by Mayflower who managed to maintain their 4-point cushion.
By the final quarter, tired legs proved to be the downfall for ACS (International), as Mayflower began lobbing ball after ball into the semi-circle for their Goal Shooter (GS) Lin Ke to loop it into the net. Eventually, Mayflower converted seven more points for a slightly more comfortable winning margin, sending a few Mayflower supporters who were sitting by the sidelines into euphoria.
Lin Ke was the toast of the Mayflower faithful, as her assured performance was backed up by the statistics. She took 30 shots in total in the game, converting 19 of them.
On the historic win, Mayflower captain Terisha Dewarny said, “Our GS, Lin Ke played very well. I’m very happy because this is our first win in four years as a netball team. We have improved a lot; back then we felt more pressured when we play but now we have learnt how to keep our calm and just give our best effort. The key today was our communication on court.”
Mayflower will look to build on this win with a clash against Crescent Girls’ School on Friday, February 5 at their own school’s indoor sports hall. For ACS (International), they will try to look to winning ways against Holy Innocents’ High School on Monday, February 1 at Kallang Netball Centre.
Scoring By Quarter
ACS (Int’l) vs Mayflower
1st Q: 5–5
2nd Q: 4–8 (9–13)
3rd Q: 6–6 (15–19)
4th Q: 2–7 (17–26)
ACS (International) Roster
Chloe, Claudia, Milan, Erin, Kalyani, Linda, JJ
Mayflower Roster
Lin Ke, Terisha Dewarny, Grace Chang, Hui Ern, Amber, Li Ning
More photos next page
On the fourth photo, it says GK of MAYFLOWER but it’s actually ACS
Thanks for spotting the mistake. Fixed. 🙂