Bout Recap: (13) Bay Area 56 vs. (10) Philly 62 (in Raleigh)

To make the most of their cross-country trip to Raleigh, the thirteenth-ranked B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls played back-to-back dates against some of the East Region's most challenging leagues on the weekend of November 17th and 18th. Having come out of the previous night's action on the losing end of a 74-45 decision to fourth-ranked Carolina Rollergirls, the Bay Area skaters took on the tenth-ranked Philly Roller Girls in a bout organized with the assistance of the ever-helpful Carolina Girls just 16 hours later. Carolina loaned the guest teams use of the Skate Ranch, one of CRG's practice facilities, as well as refs and other staffing, thus allowing the out-of-towners to compete in a "hangover bout" to round out the weekend.

Though tempers flared and play may have become a bit sloppy at times, the general atmosphere and pace of the game would prove this to be a serious misnomer: the small audience of Philly and Bay Area fans who showed up - along with the local devotees of the sport at large - were treated to a fast-paced nail-biter of a bout that could easily have gone either way until its final seconds.

<!--more--> Each team was ahead on the scoreboard in the initial stages of the game: with the teams tied after the third jam and four subsequent changes of lead by the ninth, the two teams felt the closeness of their ranking at every pass. Paving the way for Philadelphia in the early going, Mo Pain picked up nine points during two shutout jams the first and sixth frames. Contributions from Violet Temper and Shenita Stretcher gave the Libety Belles 13 points by the beginning of the sixth jam, for a lead of 3.

The Bay Area skaters's balanced attack from jammers Miss Moxxxie, Racey Lane, and Sassy Slayher would serve them well, however, as Moxxxie's 4-0 jam versus Teflon Donna put BAD ahead by a single point after the seventh. Credit is certainly due to blockers Taxi Scabs and Damanda Riot, who helped to shut out Pain once as well as keeping Teflon off the board on two occasions in the early going.

It was after Teflon's second unsuccessful trip to the jammer line that Philadelphia took control of the game with a 21-1 point run spanning from the eight to the 13th jam. Lead jammer status in five of those jams would allow Pain and fellow jammers Mandawar, Teflon, and Shenita Stretcher to give their team the lead that would prove to be a sufficient cushion to last the rest of the contest.

La Femme Nikilla, making her only appearance as a jammer, would put an end to the run with a 2-0 spin against Teflon in the 14th jam: on the heels of this momentum shift, Slayher victimized Stretcher with a 7-0 effort that put Bay Area into a much better position, but still left the team with ground to make up as they closed the period trailing by nine points, 38-29. In as low-scoring an affair as this bout was proving to be, such a setback would be all the more challenging to overcome.

The second period was dominated by the defensive efforts of both teams. After picking up 9 points to Bay Area's 8 through three jams, Philadelphia would not score again until Pain's 5-point output in the tenth of the period. Bay Area would suffer three shutouts over the same span, and though the team saw contributions from Polly Puredread (2 points), Racey Lane (2 points) and Sassy Slayer (1 point), they still trailed on the score board, and could ill-afford these setbacks. All told, there were 21 shutouts (including fourteen in the form of 0-0 scores) in the period's 20 jams - half a dozen more than there were in the first period in spite of the fact that, on average, the jams of the second period averaged just 8 seconds shorter than those of the first.

Though the two teams remained within just points of eachother for the duration of the period, Philadelphia's early lead kept them on the favorable side of a lead that was never lesser than 4 points. Though this meant that a change of lead was, at times, as little as a grand slam away, Bay Area was seldom able to put together such an effort, and the team scored fewer than 5 points in all but 3 jams.

The bout's final moments were an adventure unto themselves, as both the 16th and 19th jams ended in jammerless scenarios. At the start of the 16th, Bay Area trailed by just four points and Philly's Mandawar was stuck in the box for an elbowing major that she was assessed while jamming in the previous frame. This afforded Bay Area's Racey Lane a golden opportunity to put hear team ahead. Unfortunately, she may have been a bit too eager to get to her scoring pass, and was assessed a major for track cutting after just 29 seconds of play. When the action resumed, Teflon Donna scored five points to put the victory further out of Bay Area's hands.

Two jams later, Teflon faced off against Racey and chose to block her opponent rather than try to outscore her. Though this made for nearly a minute thrilling jammer-on-jammer action, Teflon would eventually be called out of the action for a major out of bounds block - once again leaving Racey as the lone jammer. As before, Racey tore through the pack, picking up two points along the way, but cut past the foremost blocker and was assessed another major with just enough time left on the clock to start the period's 20th jam.

With multiple players from both teams in the box, Shenita Stretcher went to the line against Sassy Slayher to finish off the bout. Slayher would be called for yet another major cut track, and multiple players would be called on other infractions, but Stretcher stayed on the track until the final whistle and and Philadelphia walked away with hard-earned 62/56 victory.

Inside the action:

It was decided that the bout would be conducted in two 30-minute periods, rather than the alternative of three periods / 20 minutes that was employed the prior evening. Though both visiting teams have more experience with three-period action, timing and unfamiliarity with local custom made this a mutual choice.

Mo Pain led both teams in scoring with 32 points in 12 attempts (854 seconds) for an average of 2.67 and a differential of 28. Philly's other jamming leaders included Shenita Stretcher (4 jams / 315 seconds, 7 points, 1.75 average, -4 differential), Mandawar (9 jams / 572 seconds, 11 points, 1.22 average, -10 differential) and Teflon Donna (11 jams / 572 seconds, 11 points, 1.00 average, -5 differential).

Among Philadelphia pivots, Violet Temper saw the most action with 13 jams (1004 seconds) with 30 points for and 17 against for a differential of 13. Rounding out the pivot corps were Ivana Rock (6 jams / 500 seconds, 16 points for and 11 against), Shenita Stretcher (4 jams / 281 seconds, 4 points for and 3 against) and Teflon Donna (4 jams / 203 seconds, 1 point for and 3 against). Nina Knockout and Dara Licks led Philly with the most blocks, while Dara and Violet Temper were credited the most assists.

For Bay Area, Miss Moxxxie had the highest jammer output with 24 points in 14 jams (895 seconds) for a 1.71 average and a differential of 1. Other jammers included Sassy Slayher (7 jams / 550 seconds, 12 points, also 1.71 average, 5 differential) and Racey Lane (13 jams / 908 seconds, 16 points, 1.23 average and -8 differential).

BAD pivoting seemed to be almost exclusively the domain of Sassy Slayher, who wore the stripe for 18 jams (1252 seconds) with 22 points for and 26 against for a differential of -4. Lusty Malice pivoted on 9 occasions (666 seconds) with 10 points for and 25 against, differential of -15, and Liza Machete took 6 turns at the lead of the pack for 448 seconds with 19 points for and 6 against, differential of 3. Liza Machete and Killer Vee were credited the most blocks among BAD skaters. Assists were not tracked for the team.

The bout's most penalized skaters were Nina Knockout and Liza Machete, each with 12 minors and a major for Knockout.