Story and photos by Les Tan/Red Sports

SCGS (black) beat defending champions Jurong Secondary 64-44 to win the National C Division Basketball Championship. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Crystal Nathasha (#13) led SCGS with a team-high 14 points. SCGS beat defending champions Jurong 64-44 to win the National C Division Basketball Championship. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Republic Polytechnic, Thursday, August 25, 2016 — Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS) defeated defending champions Jurong Secondary 64-44 to win the National C Division Girls Basketball Championship.

SCGS last won the National C Division title in 2012. SCGS had qualified for the final with a 31-24 win over Nanyang Girls’ High in one semi-final, while Jurong saw off Anglican High 49-30 in the other.

Valarie Lim (#5) of Jurong had a game high of 19 points, including one 3-pointer, and she was named Most Valuable Player (MVP).

“I’m happy that I won MVP,” said Valarie Lim. “The best part of the season is to be able to play with my teammates because some of us have played together since primary school. Our best game this season was against Nanyang Girls’ High (in Round 2 of Nationals). It was a very close fight. We won by one point (45-44).”

Crystal Nathasha (#13) led SCGS with a team-high 14 points and she was joined in double-digit scoring territory by teammates Margaret Suriya (#12) with 11 points, and Riean Serrano (#9) with 10.

While the bulk of Jurong scoring came from Valarie Lim (#5) and Kindra Sim (#24) who combined for 30 points, SCGS’s stronger bench saw eight of their players get on the score board.

Jurong started the first quarter well, going on a 7-0 scoring run to force SCGS to call a timeout with 7:09 on the clock.

The timeout had its effect, and SCGS came back, with Crystal Nathasha (#13) leading the charge with two baskets, to go on a 6-0 run to reduce the deficit to one point with 4:00 left.

Jurong replied with a 4-0 run of their own as Valarie Lim (#5) controlled the play well to lead her team to an 11-6 lead with 2:00 left. The first quarter ended with Jurong leading by four points (15-11).

The second quarter was the turning point of the game. A 4-0 SCGS scoring burst saw Crystal (#13) tie it up at 15-15. Alisa Sarah (#14) then sank a go-ahead basket to give SCGS their first lead of the game.

They would never look back.

An SCGS fast break saw Fatin Nazura (#4) find Crystal (#13) with a long pass to cap off an 8-0 run to give SCGS a 19-15 lead with 4:34 left. Jurong still had not scored a basket in the second quarter up to this point.

Jurong eventually managed four points but the second quarter belonged to SCGS, with Haziera (#5) dropping a 3-pointer to leave her team with a 28-19 half-time lead after a devastating 17-4 scoring performance.

SCGS did not let up, starting the third quarter with a 7-0 scoring run, with a Freda Wee (#10) 3-pointer a highlight. Jurong called a timeout with 5:43 left as SCGS led 37-21 after a 9-2 scoring run.

SCGS rotated their bench to keep the pressure on Jurong to wear them down. With just under two minutes left, SCGS led by 14 points (41-27).

When asked about how she used her bench, Ms Chiew Poh Leng, head coach of SCGS, said, “Jurong have three main players who always score. So we needed to run down their stamina.”

Given the relentless pace, it was not a surprise when Kindra Sim (#24) went down with cramps and had to leave the court. She would return in the fourth quarter.

SCGS had their biggest lead of 16 points in the third but Jurong narrowed it to 13 (31-44) by the end of the quarter.

SCGS shot out of the blocks in the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run to build their biggest lead of the game up to then at 19 points (50-31). This forced another Jurong timeout.

The momentum then swung Jurong’s way as the defending champions went on an 7-4 run which was capped off by a Kindra Sim (#24) basket to reduce the deficit to 16 points (38-54) with 5:16 left. This in turn forced SCGS to call a timeout to steady the players.

Jurong however could not close the gap for the rest of the quarter, and the exertions left Valarie Lim (#5), who had played every single minute up to then, with cramps with 1:09 left.

SCGS hit their largest lead of the game at 21 points (64-43) with 27 seconds left before Kindra Sim (#24) managed another point from the free throw line to end the game.

Said SCGS captain, Margaret Suriya (#12), “We had a really bad game when we lost to Dunman (in Round 1 of Nationals). We weren’t prepared for what was to come in Nationals. We had just won our North Zone final, and we didn’t mentally prepare for our next game (against Dunman) in Nationals. (After that), all of us became stronger, became mentally prepared, with more fighting spirit.”

SCGS came back in the first period after trailing 0-7 at the start. Suriya explained what happened: “Our coach told us what to do, and we went back on court and kept fighting. We didn’t let our guard down and kept fighting. If we gave up, I don’t think we would have won. We showed what we have.”

“I think they were nervous,” said coach Chiew, referring to her team’s poor start. “So I told them, ‘Just remember how you train in school and just show your good attitude on court. There’s no fear. We are underdogs. Just do your best.’ After that, they showed their fighting spirit, they let go of their fear, and just ran hard.”

With regard to the second quarter where SCGS outscored Jurong 17-4, coach Chiew added, “They were hungry to score, they had quick legs, they had fresh legs, and we noticed Jurong were getting tired, and we managed to steal some balls from them.”

SCGS finished the National Championship with a 7-1 win-loss record. Their sole loss was a 34-37 defeat at the hands of Dunman Secondary in Round 1.

SCGS also won the North Zone Championship when they beat Yishun Town Secondary 41-38 in the final. SCGS had a 9-0 win-loss record in the zone. Apart from Yishun Town, SCGS held all their zonal opponents to single-digit scoring.

Jurong were undefeated before the final and this loss saw them finish with a 7-1 win-loss record in the National Championship.

Jurong finished as the West Zone champions after they defeated Nanyang Girls’ High 45-33 in the zonal final. Jurong went undefeated in the zone with a 6-0 win-loss record.

Nanyang Girls’ High defeated Anglican High to finish third, while Ngee Ann Secondary won the Fair Play award.

Scorers
Jurong
Valarie Lim (#5) – 19 pts (1 x 3-pointer)
Kindra Sim (#24) – 11 pts
Koh Yu Qian (#12) – 5 pts
Natra Elyannah (#10) – 4 pts
Loh Yu Xian (#13) – 3 pts
Ng Kai Lie (#15) – 2 pts

SCGS
Crystal Nathasha (#13) – 14 pts
Margaret Suriya (#12) – 11 pts
Riean Serrano (#9) – 10 pts
Freda Wee (#10) – 9 pts (1 x 3-pointer)
Haziera (#5) – 7 pts (1 x 3-pointer)
Tori Chua (#7) – 6 pts
Fatin Nazura (#4) – 4 pts
Alisa Sarah (#14) – 2 pts

Scoring by Quarter
Jurong vs SCGS
1st Q: 15-11
2nd Q: 4-17 (19-28)
3rd Q: 12-16 (31-44)
4th Q: 13-20 (44-64)

Jurong Roster
Valarie Lim (#5), Valarie Tan (#6), Natrah Elyanna Putri Fechner (#10), Richal Rachel John (#11), Koh Yu Qian (#12), Loh Yu Xian (#13), Foo Le Yao (#14), Ng Kai Lie (#15), Nur Insyirah Bte Muhamad Hafizam (#17), Sarrah Nabilah Bte Mokhlas (#18), Kindra Sim (#24), Charmaine Ong (#32)

SCGS Roster
Fatin Nazura Bte Mohammad Rafi (#4), Haziera Bte Hairudinsah (#5), Tay Jin Ting (#6), Tori Chua (#7), Lee Fang Yu (#8), Serrano Riean Dylen Alferez (#9), Freda Wee (#10), Rachel Ang (#11), Margaret Suriya (#12), Crystal Nathasha D/O Mathi V, Alisa Sarah Bte Jefri (#14), Hillary Yeo (#15)

Zonal and National C Division Girls Basketball Championships – partial fixtures and results

More photos next page