(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.
