Match Report: Basketball Girls HCI vs RI

May 22nd, 2010 by CCA PRO

Gut-wrenching, heart bursting, jaw-dropping. It is a match that people should only watch once so as to prevent themselves from any fatal injuries arising from the countless ups and downs during the game. The sheer _____(there really is no word to describe the feeling) that everyone in the sports hall was feeling, that is assuming we still had our senses after such a close match, was out of the world. It truly is the ‘Finals’, Singapore basketball’s very own ‘Clash of The Titans’.

1st quarter

HC started off with a burst of energy and wasted no time settling into the game. Within 1.45mins, they had scored 5 points from #10 Amelia and #6 Wei Yi, and had forced Raffles to call for a timeout to break our girls’ rhythm. That trick turned out to be a magic pill, as a 3 minute battle for possession followed. Nothing was going to stop our girls, as they forced RI to a foul. The resulting free throw saw #10 Amelia fully capitalising her chances, taking an 8-0 lead. It seemed as if Hwa Chong was going to win this one with one eye closed. Luckily RI, being our arch rivals, stepped their game up and showed us their worth. A flurry of attacks saw RI take a shock 3 point lead(8-11) that silenced all the Hwa Chong supporters. Deep down supporters were already sensing an upset was about to occur right in front of us. This doubt was partially cast away (prematurely), as our basketball girls closed the gap to 10-12 with less than 20 seconds left on the clock.

2nd quarter

Our girls came back with one goal in mind: to get back all the points that they lost during the 1st quarter. That was exactly what they did, outplaying and outrunning the RI players all around the court. Just like the 1st quarter, the HC basketball girls wasted no time getting a foothold on the game. 30 seconds into the game, the combination of #6 Wei Yi, #11 Sara and #13 Ee Ling perfectly executed a routine link play that awed everyone with its simplicity and effectiveness, resulting in 2 points that leveled the score at 12-12. The pendulum was slowly shifting towards our side.

Just a minute later, #11 Sara defies the laws of physics and jumps way above her taller marker to catch a rebound, before putting the icing on the cake with an equally mind-boggling shot out of nowhere. Shots continued to rain down and rattle RI’s rim, punishing them each time by widening the point gap. So helpless were the RI players by the beautiful free flowing game that our basketball girls were playing that all they could do was helplessly run and watch as Hwa Chong overturned a 2 point loss to a 5 point lead by the end of the 2nd quarter.

3rd quarter

The third quarter was dejavu to the supporters as Hwa Chong and RI were neck to neck fighting for each and every point. 45 seconds into the game, #11 Sara jumps a superhuman height to block her opponent’s goal bound shot. The RI offence continued to pile up pressure on the HC defence line, who waited patiently for a chance to go on the counter attack. That chance came after a full minute of defending. The HC girls won a rebound and immediately passed forward to #4 Cherylin, who outran everybody and easily converted the first 2 points of the 3rd quarter for Hwa Chong. That marked the end of Hwa Chong’s impenetrable fortress of a defence as RI scored 5 quick points, splitting the game wide open.

What followed was a rarely seen free flowing game emphasised solely on offensive maneouvres. The result was 5 minutes of continuous shooting and scoring. If those 5 minutes weren’t exciting enough, the last 2 minutes would definitely have satisfied everyone’s craving for some action. #8 Nicole starts it off by intercepting a pass and sprinting past her oncoming marker before scoring 2 points for Hwa Chong. 10 seconds later #4 Cherylin showed her prowess in reading the game by intercepting an RI pass and scoring another 2. Count another 10 seconds and you’d have seen RI score a 3 pointer. Before you could even look around and internalise everything that was happening, the Hwa Chong girls had already hit RI back with a 3 pointer of their own. In a bid to slow down the exhausting pace of the game, the RI ranks decided to call for a timeout for the sake of the players from both teams.

Instead the pace reached a critically high level, resulting in #11 Sara who’s contribution to the match was undoubtedly vital in keeping Hwa Chong in the title race, to get injured. As she got back up and limped back to the bench, the whole Hwa Chong crowd stood up to cheer her on in hopes of her making a quick recovery. That anti-climax seemed to slow the match down, as the last minute of the 3rd quarter only saw 3 points being scored, all by RI. The score at the end of the 3rd quarter was 35-33 to Hwa Chong Institution.

4th quarter

The performance of a team during a game is usually associated with the last quarter, as it leaves the most lasting impressions on viewers. This 4th quarter is fully justifies why. If the 1st quarter saw RI narrowly edge HCI out, the 2nd saw HCI run wild and the 3rd saw RI outscoring HCI yet again, then the 4th quarter would have been a tug of war between the two teams, each one so close, yet so far away from the championships. That was exactly what it was like. RI started the 4th quarter by scoring 8 unanswered points, silencing the Hwa Chong crowd that was simply electrifying just a minute ago to say the least.

With 8 minutes of regular time left in the finals, Hwa Chong were down by an all time low of 7 points. It is moments like these that differentiate the champions from the rest. Its a rite of passage that all winners have to undergo to truly become a champion. Hwa Chong challenged this moment, and they succeeded. #6 Wei Yi took the liberty of starting the come back, scoring 2 points with 7 minutes left to play. The rest of the team too gave their all. For every point that RI scored, our girls whipped back with double the points. With 3 minutes left on the clock, Hwa Chong was still down by 3 points. Fast forward past a great intercept by #13 Ee Ling and dead accurate shooting by #7 Eva and #11 Sara, and Hwa Chong were suddenly back up by 3 points at 50-47.

They extended their lead to 5 points with 1 minute left in the game. Hwa Chong’s victory celebrations were cut short, as our archrivals finally made their come back as well. Within 50 seconds, RI scored 5 points to tie the game 53-53. The last 10 seconds saw Hwa Chong trying to go for the win, but a turnover resulted in a shot by RI that went in. Fortunately, it was ruled out because they had shot after the buzzer had gone off, forcing the game into over time.

Overtime!!!!!!!!!

Forget whatever was said about the last quarter being the face of the whole game, because this is the real deal right here. A whole year’s worth of hard work, countless litres of sweat,blood and tears shed, all hinging on these 5 minutes of over time. Undoubtedly both RI and HCI are deserving champions based on their performance so far, but our basketball girls proved to be the champions this time round, as they kept their cool and showed everyone how the one true champion fights to the very end. The 1st minute of OT was nerve wrecking as RI took a 3 point lead. But then again, we are talking about Hwa Chong basketball girls here. Did they really think it was going to end like that? Obviously not. Our girls scored a 3 pointer and did some other stuff that no one was able to remember(including the reporters) because of how intense those last 3 minutes were, and finally emerged as champions 65-60!

It has been a great season for our basketballers. Their determination and spirit today was unrivalled, and their desire to win it edged RI by just that much. Yes RI, we are proud to call you our archrivals. But today is our day. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for bringing the best out of each and every one of our basketballers, and for keeping our rivalry strong as ever.