(CLEVELAND, OH) In a topsy-turvy nail biter Friday morning at the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) playoff round at Cleveland’s Public Auditorium, St. Charles-based St. Chux Derby Chix utilized a 28-point late-game power jam en route to a 205-196 come-from-behind victory over the Brandywine Belligerents in a quarterfinal round qualifier.
Photo Credit: Lipstick Lezgo
St. Chux, seeded seventh in the ten-team playoff, advances to play second-seeded Kansas City later today at 4 p.m. Eastern (3 p.m. Central) in the quarterfinals.
Jammer penalties became the narrative of this contest as both squads ping-ponged leads throughout the first period. Trailing 26-22 ten minutes deep, a Brandywine jammer track cut resulted in a 16-point power jam for SCDC’s Jedi Knight-N-Gale and flipped the scoreboard to their favor, 38-36.
Brandywine, the tourney’s tenth seed, regained the lead on the next rotation and pushed the score to 58-41 following Skinny Guinea’s 14-pointer with 15:05 left in the first period.
St. Chux countered with a 23-point power jam scored by Psychokid D Freakout with 12:55 left in the first that flipped the scoreboard back to its favor, 64-58.
Brandywine chipped away at the margin and trailed by a solo point, 72-71, with eight minutes remaining and then regained the lead with Raggedy Aneurysm’s four point tally at the 6:58 mark, which gave the Belligerents a 75-72 edge.
Photo Credit: Lipstick Lezgo
That jam, alongside three ensuing St. Chux jammer penalties, sparked a 40-0 Brandywine rally that encompassed the next five minutes. Aneurysm collected a 14-point power jam with 3:10 left in the period to push the lead to 92-72.
Lurz Lemon tacked a 19-point power strike on the period’s penultimate jam that finished the Belligerents’ scoring run and their lead blossomed to 111-72.
SCDC’s Freakout posted 14 on the period’s final jam and the seventh-seed trailed 111-86 at intermission. Knight-N-Gale began the second half with a 14-point power jam that whittled Brandywine’s advantage to 111-100.
The Belligerents managed to maintain the double-digit margin and possessed a baker’s dozen lead, 135-122 with 17:30 left in the game.
Photo Credit: Lipstick Lezgo
Freakout posted a nine-point power jam for St. Chux with 15:40 remaining that narrowed the game to single digits, 135-131.
Brandywine surged ahead with stubborn defense and pushed its lead to 163-145 with 7:00 left after Buenas D. A$$’ six-point tally.
Seeing how so many momentum shifts, caused by jammer penalties, had altered the complexion of the game at that point, one had a feeling that a late miscue could potentially determine the outcome. Such was the case as a Belligerent jammer went to the penalty box on a track cut. A 28-point power jam from SCDC’s Knight-N-Gale ensued and St. Chux regained the lead, 173-163, with 5:10 left in the game.
A push of points over the next three rotations kept the margin at ten, 185-175, heading into the final jam. Brandywine’s Aneurysm grabbed lead as the period clock expired but St. Chux’s Knight-N-Gale also broke through the pack. Both teams traded points for the two-minute rotation and when the dust settled, a 21-20 jam that favored Brandywine did not close the gap.
St. Chux outscored Brandywine in the second period, 119-85, to pick up the 205-196 quarterfinal qualifying win. The Pack-In-Black capitalized on a 7-1 advantage in jammer penalties in the second period and precision blocking by L’Ash, Big Red, Pixie Dust-Ruction, Zombie Firebomb, Tara Eyes, 50 Shades of Pink, Slaughterhaus and Sha’ Killa helped propel the comeback.
Knight-N-Gale finished the game with 117 points, followed by Freakout’s 55.
A free audio stream of this afternoon’s St. Chux/Kansas City quarterfinal game can be heard at this link.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
ST. CHUX DERBY CHIX (205): Jedi Knight-N-Gale 117, Psychokid D Freakout 55, Conner 18, Whip L’Ash 9, Sugar Shock 4.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
