DC Rollergirls All-Stars 175 – 77 Queen City Roller Girls (Buffalo, N.Y.)
By Special Correspondent: Lady Burn Johnson
For the first home bout of their 2012 inter-league season, the DC All-Stars (ranked No. 11 in the East) faced off against the Queen City Roller Girls of Buffalo, N.Y. (No. 15). Surprisingly fresh mere hours after a 440-62 defeat at the hands of Charm City (No. 3) earlier in the morning, Queen City nonetheless appeared to be strategically outmatched by the more established DC team. After four points for Jersey Jill put them on the board in the first jam, DC immediately started working the clock to their advantage, stalling the pack while Queen City struggled to figure out the best way to get the action started. Meanwhile, DC’s impenetrable walls, helmed by Soledad and Hoova Dayum, kept Queen City’s jammers in the pack while DC’s jammers ran up a comfortable 26-3 lead.
Queen City found their first chance for a comeback when Marion Barrycuda was sent to the box on a track cut, but Pepper Stix only managed to pull a 5-2 before Velocityraptor and Hoova Dayum’s repeated hits forced her to call. Starting unopposed, B.J. Harmstrong managed to net three more, bringing the score to 28-11 in favor of DC—but the next jam found Queen City staring down the barrel of a DC powerjam when Bikini Whacks skated the wrong way to pick up a dropped helmet panty and was sent to the box, freeing Barbara Booey to add 14 unanswered points and bring the score to 42-11. Two jams later, B.J. Harmstrong narrowed the point gap again, capitalizing on a four-on-two pack advantage during a powerjam to net two grand slams, for 49-21. But subsequent back-to-back box trips for jammer Vajenna Warrior proved fatal for Queen City, as Jersey Jill and Barbara Booey put up 20 and 14 points, respectively, while Vajenna (along with hard-hitting blocker Ivana LeiHerOut) watched from the penalty box.
With five minutes left in the half, Queen City suddenly found themselves with a much bigger deficit to overcome, at 83-22, and successive hit-and-quit jams pushed DC ever closer to the century mark as the clock wound down. Queen City ended the period on a high note, though, with R Rose Selavy and Ruby Revenge holding Marion Barrycuda at the back of the pack long enough for Pepper Stix to post nine points, bringing the score to 98-32 at the half.
Queen City emerged from the break with new, more successful tactics to counteract DC’s clock-running and strong walls, and immediately began to pack on the points, with three points for Pepper Stix, followed by five for B.J. Harmstrong and two for Bikini Whacks to bring the tally to 100-41. But DC soon put a stop to that scoring run with a combination of heavy defense and well-timed offense that resulted in several successful hit-and-quit jams, bringing the score to 123-45. DC’s Soledad and Velocityraptor (with assists from Hoova Dayum and Chinese Cheker) proved particularly lethal for Queen City’s jammers; thanks to their tight defense, Jersey Jill and Lenore Gore managed to add 10 and 13 points, respectively, ballooning DC’s lead to more than 100 points at 146-45.
Queen City struck back with a 10-pointer for B.J. Harmstrong while DC jammer Deadly Lamarr was boxed, bringing the score to 154-62, but DC was unwilling to surrender its triple-digit lead for long, working more textbook defense-to-offense switches to run up the score to 175-67. In an echo of the first half, Queen City finished strong, with a pack-advantaged powerjam that racked up 10 unanswered points for B.J. Harmstrong to make the final score 175-77.
This win–the DC All-Stars largest home-turf victory–gives DC a 3-3 record for the season; they’re back in action next weekend with a closed bout against Central New York (No. 20) on March 25.
Scare Force One 138 – 100 Cherry Blossom Bombshells
By Special Correspondent: Lois Slain
In the second bout of the evening, the Cherry Blossom Bombshells came close to ending Scare Force One’s two-season winning streak, but in the end, the ladies in black and blue managed to hold on to their undefeated status.
Scare Force team captain Soledad kicked off the bout with a quick four-point jam, but the Bombshells soon made it clear that Scare Force would have to fight hard for every point in this bout. Jammers The Ultimate Whorrior and Yankee Scandal put six points on the board in the third and fourth jams, bringing their team into the lead for the first time that day.
After two more lead changes and series of short, low-scoring jams courtesy of defense-heavy strategies on both sides, the Bombshells pulled slightly ahead, with 12 points to Scare Force’s six, with just over half of the period to go. But Scare Force then got the momentum they had been looking for, as Bombshell jammer Lucky Penny ended up in the box, allowing Lenore Gore to put up 14 points for Scare Force.
With both jammers back on the track, the teams returned to the back-and-forth defensive slog, with both teams struggling to put up more than a couple points per jam.
The Bombshells had a breakthrough when Scare Force’s Marion Barrycuda headed to the box on her second scoring pass, joined by two of her blockers, allowing The Ultimate Whorrior to add 10 points to her team’s total. Yankee Scandal took the holdover powerjam and ran with it, adding another nine points and regaining the lead, 36-32. They were able to hold on to the lead through the end of the
period, heading into halftime up 47 to 35.
It initially appeared that the Bombshells would carry that momentum through the second half, as Marion Barrycuda and two Scare Force blockers again ended up in the box as Yankee Scandal banked another 15 points. But Lenore Gore quickly put a 24-point dent in the deficit, as Bombshell jammer Frightmare and two of her blockers joined her in the box. Another 20-point powerjam for Lenore a few jams later helped tip the scales in Scare Force’s favor, bringing the score to 87-65 Scare Force.
While Scare Force would give up a couple powerjams of their own through the second half, the Bombshells were not able to match the massive number of points that Lenore would score yet again, putting up 15 more points with 5 minutes left to play. Scare Force clung to their narrow lead until the end, ultimately winning 138-100.
The Bombshells will have another shot at Scare Force in May, at the home team season championship.
