Written By: Aakanksha Rai Edited By: Valerie Chua & Jolene Wong Photographs By: Eusoffworks
25th January brought yet another nail-biting game as our hand-babes continued their IHG journey with a match against our carpark 15 neighbours, Temasek Hall (TH)! A crowd of yellow could be spotted supporting their friends despite the match being on a Friday night. With their warm-up complete, our hand-babes were ready to face their opponents.
The match started with TH on attack. Their players ran past our defense to score but good ol’ reliable Li Ann kicked the ball, preventing an early goal. Captain Joey quick hands intercepted TH’s ball and did a fastbreak with Jamie and converted the ball! What a goal! A great start for Eusoff! The TH players tried to attack once again but were no match for the “J” duo, Jamie and Joey. As if it was a deja vu, Jamie then intercepted and did a fast break with Joey before converting the ball yet again! What a sick pair!
Pumped up, the TH players put up their A-game. One of the TH players then weaseled past Eusoff’s defence and WHOOOOOSH, scored into the top right corner of the net. Banging onto their momentum, TH intercepted a few balls and went on a fastbreak! However, good ol’ reliable Li Ann was there to save the day! A fastbreak was then executed and Joey scored again! She was literally on fire! TH went on attacks after attacks and managed to find the net twice. Belle (not from Beauty and the Beast, but still beautiful) then showed some chemistry with multi-talented Hwee Ching by dishing the ball to Hwee. Without any hesitation, Hwee slammed the ball into the back of TH’s net, leaving the goalkeeper dumbfounded! Both teams hustled hard and the score was practically even most of the time!
Multi-talented Hwee showing us how it’s done to get clamped and score at the same time!
Great defence from us kept TH players outside for awhile. Our girls were too aggressive during defence (that’s a good thing!) and allowed TH to earn a penalty for themselves. However, their ball was saved by Li Ann, who almost did a split! How flexible! Before the whistle was blown to signify the end of the first half, TH converted a fast break and the score was 7-6 to Eusoff.
The second half started with TH scoring a few goals. However, our girls responded with another goal from Joey! TH was aggressive and attempted many shots but Li Ann was able to save all balls, except one which grazed her hand as it entered the goal. Tough luck. TH continued to press up high on defence and be aggressive on offence, adamant on catching up and soon scored another goal. Our neighbours were on a roll as they scored once again, coming in the lead. Once, TH intercepted the ball and tried to go for a fastbreak but was stopped by ever-ready Angela. However, that clamp was deemed as a foul and Angela received a 2 minutes. Even with one man off the court, our hand-babes stayed focus and managed to intercept the ball and Ronnette scored!
As expected, speedy Ronnette finding herself space to score. How suave!
For the next few minutes, TH stayed on attack, putting Eusoff’s defence to the test. In this time, we saw multiple great saves from Li Ann (as expected). Bread too, received a 2 minutes after being too aggressive on her opponent. As soon as our favourite Bread was back in the court, she scored into the top left corner of the net. SICKKKK! The girls of TH then responded with a goal. With only a few minutes of the match left, the crowd’s hearts were pounding to the beat of the drum as they cheered for their hand-babes. The ball was soon passed to Wei Wei who scored from quite a distance, bringing the crowd some hope. Unfortunately, the referee blew his whistle seconds later, marking the end of the match.
Temasek may have won with a score of 10-11 but our girls have won our hearts! This reporter has no doubt that our hand-babes will come back even stronger. With a win from their previous match, our hand-babes are through to the semi-finals! Let’s continue to support them!
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