MADISON, WI -- The end of summer marked the end of a long bouting season for Madison’s #15 ranked Dairyland Dolls. For Cleveland’s Burning River Roller Girls All Stars, ranked #43 and in the middle of their first year of inter-league competition, the August 30th bout at Fast Forward Skate Center was another step in their development as a team. While Burning River fell behind by a large margin early, the second half was far from  the total blowout one would expect from the difference in rank and experience, and Burning River acquitted themselves as an up and coming team with tons of raw talent in a 140-74 Madison win.

Madison shut down the Cleveland jammers for the first five frames, jumping out to an early 29-0 lead.   Perhaps to keep the game competitive and entertaining for the home crowd, the Dairyland Dolls switched up their usual jammer rotation. Princess Die, the DD’s stalwart pivot, toed the jammer line in jam seven, and grabbed nine points of her own, followed by Ninja, who had never jammed in public competition in her two years in the league. Madison led mid way through the half, 49-9.

Burning River put up a scoring spurt in jams 13 and 14, with Eva Lucien scoring nine and Coco Sparx seven, but Madison still had the game in hand with a 74-31 lead. Madison’s Mouse, skating only for the second time in the period, exited the pack for a second time with 20 seconds left and made it halfway through her third pass before time expired to close the half with a commanding 84-36.

Madison continued to dominate defensively in the second half, but met an equally formidable defensive duo in Burning River’s Ivanna Destroya and Rogue Cheddar. Regular season adversaries, Cleveland’s Twin Towers formed a defensive front that stymied Madison’s jammers much of the period.   

Madison led the half in majors, eight to Cleveland’s four, and the ghost points helped Burning River keep pace in scoring. Madison won the second half as well, but by a much narrower 56-38 margin, for a final score of 140-74, Dairyland Dolls the winners.

Madison jammed 11 of their 14 players, and won 25 of the 34 available leads. Stitch proved herself the ultimate utility player. A defensive star much of the summer, she led all scorers with 38 points in just six jams.   Jewels of Denile and Mouse both scored 26 on four jams apiece, and Chop Suzzy added a solid 20.

Burning River skated a steady rotation of four players. Eva Lucien, the Fish on Skates, led her team with 23, followed by team captain Stroker Ace with 22. Coco Sparx added 15, and the Validator 14.

Madison has one last bout before hosting the WFTDA Eastern Regionals, Derby in Dairyland, October 10-12.   The Dolls travel to Austin on September 15th to square off against the 5th-ranked Texecutioners in a sanctioned WFTDA bout as part of the Austin Game Developers Conference.  This bout is generously sponsored by Frozen Codebase.

Up next for Burning River is a potentially very even matchup with the #37 Fort Wayne Derby Girls -- both teams took #34 Connecticut to the last jam at the East Coast Extravaganza, with Fort Wayne losing by 2 points and Burning River falling by 9. Fort Wayne visits Burning River's North Olmsted Soccer Sportsplex on September 13th.

Photos: Menacing Buddha