BALTIMORE, MD -- 22nd ranked Charm City notched their second victory in a row on Sunday, opening an early lead over 23rd-ranked Dallas and tenaciously maintaining it for the remainder of the bout to come out ahead, 117-89. Dallas had two late scratches from their roster, with neither Scary Cherry Bang Bang or Mad Dog skating -- alternate Desi Deck Em stepped in as a replacement, but Dallas was playing 13 against a full house of 14 for the home team.

Dallas would take the opening jam by a score of 4-3 as Anita Riot picked up lead jammer status and called the jam before Flo Shizzle could complete her first scoring pass, but that would be the only lead Dallas would hold for the evening. After the second jam went 0-0 as Dallas' lead jammer Hot 4 Teacher got bottled up by Charm City blockers Holly Go Hardly and Mibbs Breakin' Ribs and had to end it early, Charm City's jammers pulled lead for a remarkable 8 jams in a row, and the scoreboard quickly reflected that advantage.

Dolly Rocket put the home team in front with a 5-0 grand slam over Strawberry Deathcake that made it 8-4, and although Dallas narrowed it a bit with another tight 4-3 jam for Anita Riot over Flo Shizzle, the Baltimore blockers were starting to consistently control the pack. Dallas' offense would stall out for a crucial series of 5 jams, opening with a 6-1 score for Charm City's Joy Collision over Hot 4 Teacher and proceeding through four zero-point jams for Dallas. With about 15 minutes left in the period, Charm City had opened up a 40 to 18 lead.

Dallas would get something going just in time. In jam 12, Charm City's jammer Rosie the Rioter traipsed off into the penalty box mid-jam, and it allowed Anita Riot to pick up a big 7-0 jam score, the biggest success for Dallas thus far. On the following jam, Hot 4 Teacher tacked on 2 more and called it before Rosie could start her scoring pass, and Anita Riot came back again to get lead and the better of Flo Shizzle in an another 2-0 jam. Suddenly the visitors had put up 11 unanswered points, and Dallas was just one big jam away at Charm City 40, Dallas 29.

Charm City would not let that jam come, though. Joy Collision righted her team's ship with a quick, textbook 4-0 over Strawberry Deathcake, as her blockers Holly Go Hardly and Dolly Rocket teamed up to keep Strawberry trapped in the pack. The remaining four jams of the half would go by a total of 11-7 for the Baltimore ladies, allowing Charm City to ride a 55-36 lead into the locker rooms.

Dolly Rocket kicked off the second half with a spectacular 4-1 jam over Anita Riot that included a crowd-pleasing, physics-defying lateral leap to dodge a Dallas blocker. Two jams later she was back on the line to do it again, and this time was able to pick up a 5-0 as Anita Riot went to the box early (but not before being taken out by both Joy Collision and Cheeta Torpeda.) The Charm City lead was 69-41 at that point, but still Dallas was constantly threatening.

On the fifth jam of the half, Hot 4 Teacher finally bested Joy Collision on the jammer line, picking up lead jammer and a 5-4 win. Dallas blockers Kick Face Trace and Strawberry Deathcake were all over Charm City's jammer Pistol Whip on the following jam, and while Trace and Strawberry eventually both found themselves in the penalty box, it gave their jammer Keltic Kamakazi the opportunity for lead jammer and a 4-0, and that made it Charm City 73, Dallas 51.

Right then, though, was when Charm City finally took solid control of the bout on a jam where everything was going Charm City's way. Anita Riot lined to up jam for Dallas against Flo Shizzle for Charm City, and Dallas was already starting a couple of blockers down due to the penalties in the previous jam. Joy Collision leveled Anita with a huge hit, and then apparently Anita's wheels got tangled up in some of the boundary tape. That made her slow to get up -- and when she did, she was greeted by some tough booty blocking from Dolly Rocket. Anita would end up pulling her fourth minor and going to the box -- and while all this was happening, Flo Shizzle was running wild through a strung-out Dallas defense, putting up the biggest win of the whole night with a 14-0 victory that got the home crowd thunderously pumped up.

A few jams later, Hot 4 Teacher was able to get some points back for her team, lapping Cherrylicious on the way to a full-length 9-4 win (Dallas' blockers Mercy and Heike DeSkirt were intent on making life quite difficult on Cherry for those two minutes.) Unfortunately for the visitors, Teacher also collected her fourth minor near the end of that jam, and that set up a scenario always in Charm City's favor -- Joy Collision unopposed on the jammer line. Joy seized the opportunity to take a 9-0 win before Teacher could escape captivity and begin her scoring, and that gave the Baltimore girls their biggest lead of the bout, 105-64.

With the point spread at 41 and only about 9 minutes left to play, it looked like the home team had matters well in hand, but Dallas wasn't interested in going quietly -- over the next four jams, they went on a 25-8 run that whittled the lead down to a surmountable 24 points at 113-89, capped off by a 7-0 jam for Ali Gorey over Flo Shizzle in Ali's only jamming appearance of the night. However, the clock had become Dallas' enemy. On the final jam of the night, Charm City's Pistol Whip got one final roar out of the home crowd by claiming lead jammer over Hot 4 Teacher and putting up a 4-0 as time expired, giving the Charm City girls a solid 117-89 win.

Charm City's Joy Collision had an outstanding game in both the pack and at the jammer line, averaging just over 6 points per jam to lead all scorers with 37 points on 6 jams and put up a +23 jammer point differential. Teammate Flo Shizzle was just behind her in total points, contributing 36 points on 10 jams. Dolly Rocket was most effective at attaining lead jammer status, claiming it 4 of 5 times on her way to 18 points and a +13 jammer point differential. Charm City was deep at the jammer position, sending 7 different players to the second line through the bout: Cherrylicious (11 points, 6 jams), Pistol Whip (11 points, 4 jams), Lady Quebeaum (4 points, 3 jams) and Rosie the Rioter (0 points, 2 jams) also went.

On the visitors' side, Hot 4 Teacher and Anita Riot handled the majority of the jamming duties -- Hot 4 Teacher led her team with 32 points on 12 jams, while Anita Riot came up with 29 points in 13 jams. (Notably, Hot 4 Teacher had a dramatically better second half than first, scoring 28 of her 32 points after halftime despite going to the line an equal amount of times in each.) Keltic Kamakazi (13 points, 5 jams), Ali Gorey (7 points, 1 jam) and Strawberry Deathcake (5 points, 5 jams) rounded out the offensive attack for Dallas. By scoring a 7-0 in her single jam, Ali Gorey led her team with a +7 jammer point differential.

Charm City now hopes to make it three wins in a row at a February 17 home date with Ohio, while Dallas is also at home on February 9 against Northwest Arkansas.

Additional reporting: Johnny Zebra and Concealed Carrie