Story by Zachary Foo/Red Sports.

Sarah Goh (SCGS #13) lays up in traffic. Sarah was joint-top scorer with 6 points. (Photo 1 © Zachary Foo/Red Sports)


Singapore Basketball Centre, Tuesday, July 2, 2019 — Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS) overcame a rocky start to post an opening 23–8 win over Deyi Secondary (DYS) in Group Z of the the North Zone C Division Girls Basketball Championship. Maeva Loo (SCGS #5), Sarah Goh (SCGS #13) and DYS #23 were joint top scorers with six points apiece.

Wang Jia Yue (#11), SCGS captain, had this to say about the win: “We could have played better, even though this was our first match of the season. We will definitely try harder and fight harder for future matches.”

The first quarter was slow by all accounts, as both teams struggled to put points on the board. SCGS were very active on the boards, corralling multiple offensive rebounds. Unfortunately, they were unable to convert these opportunities. DYS on the other hand, tried to get close to the rim. However, they were unable to calibrate the power of their shots and they could not get their shots to fall. SCGS were able to score a couple of baskets on fast breaks and they provided the difference heading into the second quarter.

The pace of the game quickened in the second quarter, as both teams exhibited their desperation in finding a basket. They did not help themselves by missing many shots from right underneath the basket. Maeva Loo (SCGS #5) opened the scoring in the second half with a layup. DYS #23 responded in kind. DYS gave up a lot of rebounds in this quarter, but SCGS did not punish them at all for failing to keep their defensive rebounds. DYS however showed a bit more activity on defence, exhibiting some earnestness in stopping SCGS from getting to the rim.

The third quarter was a rebounding battle as both teams realised that was the crux to victory in this game. SCGS switched over to a full court press, which took away a lot of easy passes. This proved to be effective, as was evident when Celeste Niam (SCGS #4) pounced on an errant pass and took it the other way for an easy score.

The final quarter saw SCGS’s main source of offence come from fast breaks. Sarah Goh (SCGS #13) also good anticipation on defence to deflect an errant pass, allowing her to make an easy layup on the other end. SCGS rode their press and slowly built up a lead in the quarter, as DYS were unable to cope with the full court pressure. This allowed SCGS to seal the game comfortably, coming away 23–8 winners.

Jia Yue (#11) added: “I hope that the team will do well for the upcoming games and make our way into the National rounds.”

Scoring by Quarter
SCGS vs DYS
1st Quarter: 4–0
2nd Quarter: 6–4 (10–4)
3rd Quarter: 5–2 (15–7)
4th Quarter: 8–2 (23–8)
Top Scorers
SCGS
Maeva Loo (#5) – 6 points
Sarah Goh (#13) – 6 points
DYS
(#23) – 6 points
(#21) – 2 points
SCGS Roster
Celeste Niam (#4), Maeva Loo (#5), Aliyaa Aris (#6), Prova Bhuiyan (#8), Megan Lim (#9), Au Zexuan (#10), Wang Jia Yue (#11), Wong Rui Xin (#12), Sarah Goh (#13), Nydia Heng (#14), Zara Liu (#15), Abigail Lim (#17)
DYS Roster
We were unable to obtain the roster for Deyi Secondary. If you know any of the players, kindly post them in the comments below and we’ll update the post. Thanks.
More photos next page