Cincinnati Rollergirls announcer Caesar gives a detailed recap of Saturday’s double-header against Dayton’s Gem City Rollergirls and Minneapolis’s North Star Roller Girls. If you missed any of the action, you can read the boutcast and view the archived video of both games on Derby News Network.
Cincinnati Silent Lambs 112, Gem City 53
In a game that was surprisingly close at times, the Silent Lambs held on to victory over their sister team from nearby Dayton, the Gem City Harley’s Angels, by a final score of 112-53. This victory puts the Lambs at 4-1 for the 2010 season, their only loss coming at home to the Arch Rival Roller Girls’ St. Lunachix back in April.
In the first jam, Polly Rocket got two grand slams plus two more points before calling it off while the Gem City jammer never cleared the pack, so that gave the Lambs a 12-0 lead. The Lambs would lead the rest of the game, although Gem City was able to keep it close at times in the first half thanks to an impressive defense from this young team. Gem City captain Racey Rocker was a high point as always; she has tons of talent and a never-quit attitude. Vanilla Milfshake showed a lot of tenacity as well. Halftime score for this game was Cincinnati 45, Gem City 24, and the final was 112-53 (this game was played as two 20-minute halves).
Given the close distance between Cincinnati and Dayton, we are sure to see many rematches between these two squads in the future. The Lambs hold a solid advantage in the series, but Gem City showed sparks of greatness that could ignite into a fire with more teamwork and strategy.
Polly Rocket was the high point scorer for the Lambs with 36 (5.14 points/jam); Bex Pistol added 28 (5.6 points/jam) and Wheezy had 21 (4.2 points/jam). Gem City was led by team captain Racey Rocker, who scored an amazing 43 of her teams 53 total points (4.78 points/jam). Team penalty minutes were nearly even, with Cincinnati spending 17 minutes in the box while Gem City had 18 box trips. Cherry Choke and Maime each contributed 7 offensive assists, and Celia Graves led the Lamb defenders with 13 actions. Ruff’n the Passer, in her return from maternity leave, had 12 defensive actions, including 2 jammer knock downs.
Cincinnati Black Sheep 119, North Star 50
The Black Sheep extended their winning streak to 7 games to improve to 7-1 on the season (6-0 in WFTDA sanctioned play). The Black Sheep defense is holding its opponents to an average of 73 points/game, while the offense is putting up an average of 129 points/game. Three of their opponents have been ranked nationally this year by Derby News Network, and 3 have also been ranked in the North Central region top 10.
Medusa earned lead jammer in the first jam of the night, and the Supernovas held the first lead of the game at 4-0. Jam 2 went 0-0, and then our first lead change came in jam 3 thanks to the returning Hannah Ouchocinco, who scored 10 on back to back grand slams to Katarina Hit’s 4 to give the Black Sheep a 10-8 advantage. Jam 4 saw the score end up tied at 10. Cincinnati started to pull away at that point, as the Supernovas could only add another 11 points in the first half, which ended with a score of 76-21 in favor of the home team. Although the Supernovas had some bright moments in the second half, they never really got within striking distance of the Sheep and the night ended with a score of 119-50.
Perhaps the most interesting statistic from this game is that North Star earned lead jammer 17 times compared to Cincinnati’s 14, but still was unable to score even half the points their opponents did. Much of the reason for that is that Cincinnati’s jammers often passed up the North Star jammer, forcing her to call it off at 0-0. In situations like that, the lead jammer advantage is nullified.
Medusa was clearly the best jammer for the North Star team in this game, as she accounted for 66% of the North Star scoring, with 33 of their 50 points (2.54 points/jam.) K Lethal and Hannah Ouchocinco picked up right where they left off, scoring 50 (3.85 points/jam) and 43 (3.91 points/jam), respectively. The Black Sheep had 24 penalty minutes compared to the Supernovas’ 27 minutes. Trauma led Cincinnati with 8 offensive assists, while Sk8r-Kinney and Sadistic Sadie each had 16 defensive actions.
Next up for the Cincinnati Rollergirls is their last home double-header of the season on June 19 at the Cincinnati Gardens. The Silent Lambs face Demolition City Roller Derby of Evansville, Indiana while the #4 Black Sheep take on the #5 Brewcity Bruisers of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The double-header also marks the Cincinnati Rollergirls’ first-ever Hometown Heroes Night, when all branches of the military, VFW members, law enforcement, fire departments, and first-responders with ID can get general admission tickets for just $7 (normally $10) at the Gardens box office. Check back here for game previews and get tickets here.