#4 Texas Outlasts #7 Charm City, 112-104

By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Thu Jun 25 2009 2:58pm

BOSTON, MA -- In a closed but WFTDA sanctioned Saturday morning bout, #4 Texas had to fight all the way to the final jam to stave off a #7 Charm City team that would not go away. Charm chipped away at a 73-39 halftime deficit and deployed all three timeouts very effectively in the endgame to narrow a 108-85 gap with 3:52 to play all the way down to 112-104 going into the final jam, but a lead jammer call for Texas with no time left sealed the deal for the Southern girls.

Live coverage of this bout was sponsored by Black Eyed Susan Skate Shop and Roller Warriors. Read the play-by-play in  the boutcast liveblog from Xena Paradox and Slack Kerowhack.

Though the normal deafening Shriners Auditorium was surreally quiet at 11am in the total absence of an audience, the action on the track was as fast and furious as if the place was packed to the rafters. Early on it looked like Texas was going to slowly bury Charm City under a series of low-scoring jams, as TX shut out Baltimore on the opening 4 jams of the night to construct a 13-0 lead -- but Charm City got all those points back in two minutes, as their jammer Lady Quebeaum hustled for 13 points while Charm blocker Joy Collision was all over TX jammer Olivia Shootin' John.

Charm City held their only lead of the bout for the following two jams, after a 4-0 for Duchess of Torque over Lucille Brawl and a 3-0 for Flo Shizzle over Olivia Shootin' John moved the score to 21-13 Charm City with just over 18 minutes left in the half. Penalty problems would soon flip the advantage to Texas, though, as Charm's pack was whittled to just two while Rice Rocket and Bloody Mary pushed the margin to Texas 31, Charm City 21 with 13:30 in the half.

That was only the beginning of a nightmare series for the Baltimore crew, unable to get back on the board for a lengthy run of jams. Texas got all the way to 59-21 with 6:47 to play, a 46-0 run.

Action was paused for awhile at this point while Charm City player Reckless Ndangerment (conveniently enough, a real-life nurse) attended to Texas player Vicious Van Go-Go, who had an awkward collision with a trackside pole -- Go-Go would sit out the rest of the half and only return for a single jam in the second half, but did return to play against Boston in the night game. Charm was able to get their offense going again after the injury timeout, but the halftime deficit was still 34 points favoring Texas at 73-39.

Second Half

Charm City and Texas came into the second half in almost a perfect grapple. It opened with a 4-0 for Charm's Just Carol over Bloody Mary, who started the half boxed after receiving the pesky 4.0 mouthguard major -- but the next three jams were all 2-2 ties, and finally Charm City's Bambi's Revenge got another jam with with a 3-0 over Lucille Brawl, moving the score to Texas 79, Charm City 52 with 23:05 to play.

Again Texas went on a quick unanswered run, rattling off a 2-0, 9-0 and 2-0 series to put charm on their heels with a 40 point deficit at 92-52 with 18 minutes left in the game ... but that was when the Charm City comeback began in earnest. They slowed the pack to molasses on an ensuing powerjam for Just Carol, getting her a 10-0, and Bambi's Revenge followed up with a 4-0, making it 92-66 with 14:30 left.

Lucille Brawl got a 4-0 on a light pack to break the Charm City streak, but the Baltimore crew just started a new one -- 5-0 Bambi, 1-0 Carol, 8-3 Lady Quebeaum and 5-0 Bambi to make it a 14 point game at Texas 98, Charm City 85 with just under 7 minutes on the clock. It was once again Lucille Brawl stepping up for Texas here over another light pack, rolling for a much needed 9-0 that gave Texas a little more breathing room at 108-85 and about 5 minutes to play.

Texas started playing jammer defense off the line here, trying to kill the clock a bit. It led to a 0-0 jam between OSJ and Bambi's Revenge, but the following jam saw TX jammer Lucille Brawl go to the penalty box -- along with practically every other skater awake in Boston at noon on Saturday. With the penalty box backing up, Charm City blocker Dolly Rocket found herself the only Charm City blocker working against 3 Texas defenders as Charm jammer Pistol Whip made her approach -- and Dolly pulled the only card she could, electing to stop dead on the track and destroy the pack. Two Texas blockers went to the box for continuing to engage on Pistol, and Dolly's gambit turned out to have worked very effectively, effectively trading one CCRG penalty minute for two TX penalty minutes AND two grand slams for Pistol.  

After that chaos, things stood at 108-95 for Texas with 1:36 to go, and Charm City was quick to call timeout. Just Carol was able to claim lead and a 9-4 win over Lucille Brawl, who was lapped due to Joy Collision holding her up -- and the Charm bench frantically signaled for timeout again as Carol finished her second pass and called it off with just 17 seconds left on the clock.

Now with the score Texas 112, Charm City 104, Charm City needed a lead jam call and at least one lap point in a final jam between Bambi's Revenge and Rice Rocket. Bambi was out first, but without lead as she didn't pass all opposing blockers in-bounds -- and before Bambi could return for her first scoring pass, it was Rice Rocket getting the lead jammer call and immediately ending the jam, and the bout, with a quick call-off. Charm City had managed to win the second half by 26 points, 65-39, but the 46-0 run they suffered in the first half was just too much to overcome, and Texas won a thriller, 112-104.

Texas would go on to end their three-bout weekend with a win that night against #8 Boston, 118-84; Texas is dormant until September 6th, when they'll take on Bay Area. Charm City is right back in action this weekend to kick off the third annual East Coast Extravaganza against Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls, currently ranked #11 nationally by DNN.

Photos: Craig Lammes
Additional reporting: Xena Paradox, Slack Kerowhack