In a high-level matchup that was probably even more intense than the substantial pre-game buzz would have suggested, the #4 Carolina Rollergirls just barely managed to get the better of national champions Kansas City in their first bout as #1, ending up on the right side of a coronary-inducing conclusion, 96-95.

As the last seconds tick off, Carolina's Denise Lightning gets an early start on the victory celebration. Photo credit: Robert Allison

The bout started off with Denise Lightning on the line for Carolina against Snot Rocket for Kansas City, and Denise gave the raucous Carolina audience something to cheer for right off the bat, picking up a quick 3-0 jam with a little help from teammate Kitty Crowbar delaying Snot Rocket's exit from the pack. The next jam found Kansas City putting up Xcelerator to jam against Betty Rumble, and both jammers finished their opening pass almost simultaneously, with Xcelerator getting the lead jammer call -- when the jammers entered the pack, Xcelerator was able to navigate through while Kansas City's blocker Bruz-Her took down Betty Rumble, giving Kansas City a 4-2 win.

The next couple of jams were closely matched as well, but on the fifth jam of the night, with Carolina up 10-5, Kansas City got a very tough break when there was some announcer confusion about whether Carolina had called for a between-jams timeout. The timeout had been neither requested by Carolina nor granted by the referees, but Kansas City jammer Snot Rocket headed back to her bench thinking there was extra time to strategize, and couldn't get back to the jammer start line before the whistle blew.

With KCRW blockers Rita Ploy and Patti Wackin already in the box, this gave Carolina's jammer Denise Lightning a jammer's dream -- a 4 on 2 pack with no opposing jammer -- and Denise tore up the track on her way to an amazing 19-0 jam. That put Carolina up 29 to 5, but Kansas City showed remarkable composure for the rest of the period, refusing to let the sudden unexpected deficit to get out of hand.

Carolina did have a very impressive defensive performance to end the period. With about three minutes to play, a Carolina pack led by Princess America, DVS and Shirley Temper managed to hold up the dangerous Xcelerator long enough for Carolina jammer Billy the Kid to get a lap point on her in the course of a 9-0. The period would end on a frustrating jam for Kansas City, as Denise Lightning, jamming against Jade Lightning for Kansas City, elected to play defense and just hold back Jade for a full minute, killing the period clock on a 0-0 jam and leaving Carolina up 48-22.

Denise, winning the battle of the Lightnings against Jade. Photo credit: Robert Allison

It was an extremely different story in the second period. Though Denise Lightning once again got Carolina off to a good start with a hard-fought 5-0 in a full-length opening jam, Kansas City wouldn't lose another jam for the next 18 minutes. There was a long official timeout following the opening jam, as the exterior rope lights went out and couldn't be quickly fixed -- this would cause the rest of the period to be played with the inside boundary lighted but the exterior boundary somewhat less visible. When the action started up again, Carolina's Betty Rumble finally won a long battle with Kansas City's pivot Bruz-Her to claim lead jammer, but it would be Xcelerator taking a 4-3 win as Betty couldn't complete her first scoring pass.

The fourth jam of the period contained a somewhat controversial moment when Carolina jammer Zella Lugosi was having a lot of success holding Kansas City's jammer Dee Claw far behind the pack with the Carolina squad's signature tactic of jammer defense -- until Jessika Rabid burst out of the penalty box and freed Claw by leveling Zella with a block that appeared to be far behind the legal engagement zone. The crowd didn't like it, but it went uncalled and let Claw get to the business of scoring a 5-0 win that moved the score to Carolina 59, Kansas City 38.

Kansas City continued to draw ever closer on each jam, with Bruz-Her and Annie Maul continually teaming up to make life very hard on the Carolina jammers. With 5:23 left in the period, Carolina had a tough situation with two blockers in the box and their jammer Princess America unable to find a way around Bruz-Her. Princess would eventually go to the box herself and Dominant Jean, in her first jam of the evening, rolled away with a 6-1 victory and Princess still in the box.Kansas City's Snot Rocket would lap Princess on the following jam, and that 9-4 victory for KCRW would be the last scoring in a grueling period for the home team -- Carolina was outscored 44-19 in the 20 minutes, and their substantial 26 point lead had been whittled all the way down to one point at Carolina 67, Kansas City 66.

Kansas City's jammer Jade Lightning tries to beat a tight pack to the outside, with Princess America close behind. Photo credit: Robert Allison

Carolina desperately needed a jam win to re-establish momentum as the third period started, and they got it when Denise Lightning managed to finally find the infinitesimal space between KCRW blockers Bruz-Her and Annie Maul, sneaking between them to get a 4-0 win over Xcelerator. Two jams later, though, Snot Rocket would finally deliver the big jam that Carolina had been worried about all night, taking advantage of a light pack to bust out a 13-3 win over Denise and putting Kansas City in the lead for the first time all game long, 79-75.

It looked bad for Carolina as the next jam started, with their jammer Zella Lugosi getting her turn to be stymied by the Bruz-Her/Annie Maul teamwork, and Kansas City jammer Dee Claw grabbing lead jammer and leaving her in the pack. But Dorton Arena blew up when Claw started her scoring pass by skating directly into the back of opposing blocker Ms. Anthrope the Mordant, collecting her fourth minor and completely flipping the momentum to Carolina. Zella would get a 5-0 win in that jam, and with Claw still in the box for the next jam, Denise Lightning got the job done again with a 6-0 spot, giving Carolina an 86-79 lead with 9:19 left in the game.

The margin would stay around the same for the next few jams, and with about 4 minutes in the bout and the score Carolina 90, Kansas City 85, Kansas City needed a solid jam win -- and got it from Snot Rocket, who nabbed lead jammer on the help of a spectacular whip from Annie Maul, who was simultaneously holding back Carolina jammer Betty Rumble while giving the assist. Snot Rocket let the jam run the full two minutes, and was able to lap Betty during its course, getting a 10-5 win that tied the game at 95 with 1:47 to play.

The pack takes off at the start of the pivotal penultimate jam. Photo credit: Robert Allison

Even though Snot Rocket had just gone a full two minutes, Kansas City elected to send her back to the jammer line, this time against Denise Lightning for Carolina. Everybody in the building knew that the lead jammer call would be crucial, and the crowd absolutely exploded when it was Denise out of the pack first with lead jammer. Snot Rocket wasn't too far behind, but Denise only had to pass one opponent to give Carolina the lead, and wasted little time in calling the jam upon passing a fallen Princess Slay-Ya.

At that moment there was still about a minute left on the clock, and a few more precious seconds ticked away before KCRW could get a timeout called with 47 seconds left to play. They'd put Snot Rocket on the line for a third time in a row, but Denise Lightning, once again opposing her, finished Kansas City off with a little more of that patented Carolina jammer defense, delaying Snot Rocket's entry to the pack long enough that there was no way either jammer would have enough time to score points. Carolina's home crowd got the best conclusion to the 2007 Carolina season that they could have possibly hoped for, with their team knocking off the national champions, 96-95.

Denise Lightning and Snot Rocket both had phenomenal games on the jam line; Snot Rocket led all scoring with 56 points, while Denise scored 48 points to rack up exactly half of the Carolina total. Denise would lead in jammer point differential with a +28 (though all but 9 of those points came during the early unopposed jam), and Snot Rocket was right behind her with a +24. As was befitting such a close game, the teams perfectly split lead jammer status, with each team getting it on 14 of the night's 32 jams.

Neither team currently has another intraleague contest scheduled.