Written by: Ong Jia Jie Edited by: Leung Lok Heng & Choa Zhao Xiang Photos by: EusoffWorks
The date is 7/2/20, the girls in yellow are T-20 mins to the commencement of their semi-finals game against KR, when suddenly a message comes in from the big D sports D Amos saying all IHG games tonight will be postponed by 30 minutes to await the DORSCON Orange situation update. Low and behold, convening announces that only players and key personnel (such as our brave pubes reporters) can remain in the venue. Our basketball girls lined up in a row and did a classy “Thank you supporters”, acknowledging the avid fans who wanted to watch our superstars at work, but had to leave the venue.
Our girls wasted no time getting to work – right off the jump ball Georgia receives the ball and races down the court but she herself could not handle her blistering speed and puts a little too much oomph in her layup. Even if the basket did not land, KR sure knew what’s up from the get go and that they were dealing with some serious threats here. And speaking of a serious threat, EHBB’s very own CapitaLand skyscraper Hwee Ching feeds one to Shiyi who was cutting in and rewards her efforts with an easy basket – the first of many to come! The first quarter was very intense with our girls going neck and neck with the KR players and the score was very tight for most of the quarter. But our girls quickly identified that KR’s offence only flowed through a single player wearing the no. 7 jersey and the defence adapted quickly.
Our girls switched on screens really quick and Vera with the D wasted no time to switch onto KR’s only form of offence for some superstar on superstar action there!
Vera was unplayable. The KR girls could not break down her towering stature and pure athleticism in defence.
It was already nearing the end of the first quarter and the score was still 4-4, and perhaps a little flustered by the tight game (and the fact that she just subbed on), Shanice received the ball and started dribbling towards the WRONG side of the court! But eh juuuuust she turns around (not in realisation of her mistake) and finds a pass deep in the paint for a free open basket as all the KR defenders were still confused with what was going on. Good fake Shanice! We all know it was intentional. On the next possession, Hwee Ching drives one right down the lane and the KR defender knew she had no choice other than to foul this well oiled freight train coming at her to prevent a basket (maybe a dunk?). Sadly, Hwee wasn’t able to sink her free throws, probably due to the wind, but she quickly makes up for it by stealing the ball back in our half and dribbling it all the way to the other end to lay in the final basket of the first quarter – giving Eusoff a 8-6 lead.
Hwee Ching once again did not disappoint with her mesmerizing dribbles and effortless shots.
The second quarter was when Eusoff really switched on the afterburners – something we all know captain Jin Wen is more than capable of. Jin Wen drove in quick and fakes her defender with a pass before continuing on and laying in a wide open basket. On the very next possession, she attacked the paint again and KR knew that they had to foul this monster to prevent a basket, causing KR’s key player to draw her third personal foul and getting into foul trouble. KR’s defence was really tight but they simply could not handle Shiyi’s skillz as she cuts in with perfect timing and lays one in REVERSE. In the wake of such overwhelming adversity, KR’s defence buckled and we had two more quick buckets through Jin Wen-Vera and Joey-Georgia give-and-gos (Georgia’s basket was even a foul-in, NASTY stuff). As if the quick one-twos weren’t enough of a feast for the eyes, our girls ran some high level top secret set play and moved the ball around the KR defence at lightning speed. Kinda looked like a scaled up pinball machine there, until the ball landed in the hands of ACZY Angela-sama who drove the ball in and gave them the totomeda (a big fat layup in their faces). Angela proceeded to sink a three pointer and racked up another assist – truly a beast. Testament to our insane offence, Joey fired a real DEEP two pointer without even jumping… Definitely crushed KR’s spirit there and ending the half 31-13 to Eusoff.
Our girls were all over this game at this point, having figured out KR’s gameplan, our girls prevented KR from attacking the basket the way they wanted and KR’s baskets came mainly from free throws (which were very hard earned to say the least). Vera kissed KR’s chances of coming back goodbye with two back to back two point jumpshots in the third. Aderes also had a sick fake which got her opponent in the air and she quickly took an extra step towards the basket to lay in the open bucket. In the fourth quarter, Joey managed to retain possession of an inbound ball which had the KR defence scrambling around her; however Joey had a clear line of sight over all the tiny people beneath her and sent one deep to a wide open Huihui for a wide open layup. Our girls played as a solid unit and had superb ball movement tonight, bagging home an easy victory over KR with a final score of 61-24 to Eusoff.
This victory secured our basketball girls a place in the finals, which is taking place Sunday 4.30pm @ USC against our supper stretch rivals TH. Please stay updated on the wuhan situation through the respective hall channels and stay safe!
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