Writer: Low Seng Yen

Layouter: Zhou Jun

The girls’ first basketball match followed the guys’, facing the same hall, on the same court.

The match started on a much slower pace as compared to the earlier guys’ match, with both sides missing their shots early on. Eventually, it was KR who drew the first blood, stunning us with a 3-pointer. Our girls responded immediately, but Sarah’s shot deflected off the hoop and KR caught the rebound, scoring to lead 5-0. Captain Tiffany came on to add on to the fire power, but for the next 5 minutes or so both teams couldn’t manage to add on to the score. KR managed to score 2 more times before committing a foul which gave us the opportunity to get on the scoreboard with two free throws, and Jacy converted one of them. With one and a half minutes of the quarter remaining, we were trailing 9-1 and KR extended the lead to 11-1 with 50 seconds remaining. Our girls had one last chance to attack in the quarter and they finally scored their first non-free throw goal, with Sarah beating the whistle to score. The quarter ended 11-3 in KR’s favour.

Play resumed and KR were awarded free throws within the first minute, which they converted to lead 12-3. RH retaliated with Pook going close, but a counter attack by KR left us trailing 14-3 instead. Agnes’s brave attempt at a 3-pointer resulted in a miss, but Sarah managed to score again for 14-5, and soon converted a free throw for RH to trail 14-6. The girls, buoyed by this streak of 3 points, were playing more confidently now, defending well and had chances to score, but KR hung in tough and scored from a rebound to lead 16-6. Another defense error from our girls left KR leading 18-6 at halftime.

Ying Xi, Thing Thing and Andrea came on for the third quarter, which started on a positive note for us with Tiffany scoring for 18-8 and Ying Xi just missing a 3-pointer. However, KR opened their scoring for this quarter with a free throw, and our girls, in contrast, missed a few more chances to score. The score was 26-8 before a timeout was called for the girls to restrategize and halt KR’s scoring momentum, but to no avail as KR managed to score one more before the end of the quarter.

Going into the final quarter, the pace of the game picked up with our girls desperate to add on to their tally. Andrea scored, bringing the score to 28-10, but KR responded with a 3-pointer, and another goal after another of our attacks were halted due to traveling. Even though things looked bleak for our girls, they continued to play their hearts out and Jacy scored from a free throw before Pook added 2 points for 33-13, only to see the efforts negated by a 3-pointer from KR. Towards the end of the match, RH had another opportunity to score but Lady Luck was not at our side, with Agnes, Jacy and Ying Xi all missing their shots by a whisker. Sarah scored the final basket of the match, which ended 42-17 to KR.

All in all, it was a good learning experience for the girls even though they lost. They will go up against Eusoff Hall next, so be there to support them!