The End of a Brave Campaign

Tan Thiam Peng

Hall 4's female basketball team was finally unleashed to play, after a couple of postponements to this impending Losers' Pool game with our neighbours Hall 5. After tasting defeat in our first game, we had to win this one to keep our hopes of making the Quarters alive. Unfortunately, the fiery spirit of our girls could not pull them through ultimately.

Team manager and point guard Jean was optimistic before the game. On our chances, she said, "I think we have quite a good chance of winning." Her optimism was admirable, and at the same time infectious, as the team displayed high spirits in the warm-up and practice. The team was confident as the opponents were not a very strong team.

Warming up and ready for the game.

The opening jump-ball.

It was evident at the start that although we had a team of sporty girls, we lacked height as compared to our opponents. But for what we lacked, we definitely made up with heart. The team had already tuned themselves psychologically for a fierce battle with a Hall that is becoming our arch-rival.

We started the game brightly, and it was also clear from the word "Go" that it was going to be a messy affair. They fouled our talented sportsgirl Liyan early and she converted one of her free throws to open the scoring. We had hoped that it would open the floodgates. But the opening quarter was to be a tight one, as both sides strove to gain control.

We were to gain the upper hand in the early stages. The starting five of Carol, Liyan, Shiyun, Yingsze and Huisze was lively and hardworking, and our reserves were actually secret weapons too. Huisze and Liyan hit two more baskets to boost our hopes.

But things went downhill from there. Hall 5 adopted the right strategy to put our girls under intense pressure and, without strong technical players in our team, we fumbled and lost the initiative.

Fortunes were not looking good and anticipating that, Jean threw herself on to try to control the game as the point guard. She was technically sound, but as our opponents quickly found out that she is our main ball-carrier, they ganged her continuously and it became tough for her.

Time-out team talk.

In a long barren stretch for us, Hall 5 went on a good scoring run while we could only reply with a basket from Yingsze. They pulled away and our girls seemed demoralised.

We then threw on the effervescent Nellie, who beefed up our aggression in the face of an opponent that was slowly descending into using cheap aggressive play. The game got worse and almost ugly, and we sent Hazel on as another layer to protect our girls. Our opponents were clearly using violent tactics to frustrate us, and our players fell victim to them. Instead of replying with good basketball, we had to focus on neutralising their violent tactics. Frustration caught up with us and we subsequently forgot to play ball, allowing Hall 5 to score easy baskets.

Nellie, who was in the thick of things throughout the time she was on-court, hit one of her free throws after being fouled, and Carol, one of the more dominant players on-court, and the focus of our offence, left it late and converted two baskets.

But it was not enough. The game ended on a sour note, both in the 12-23 scoreline, and the way it was played. It was rather wasted as Hall 5 was not a strong team. But the spirit of Hall 4 shone through. The girls never gave up the fight and that deserves respect from all Ohmers. Till the next IHG then.