(ST. CHARLES, MO) For the primary travel squad of the St. Chux Derby Chix (SCDC), one could actually consider their 191-188 setback to the Twin City Derby Girls Saturday night a victory.
Sure, the 30-6 jam on the game’s final rotation by the Champaign, Illinois rollers gave the home crowd at Lamborghini Gold Coast Athletic Center that supported the Pack in Black a case of the sour belches.
However on paper, the close differential actually benefited the St. Charles County collective in their quest to move up the calculated rankings of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). This month, SCDC currently sits at #121 while Twin City is positioned #98.
In a rankings’ climate that incorporates an algorithm that contains strength of schedule and final differential in the methodology, the ending point spread is just as important, if not arguably more important, for a team more so than either the letter “W” or “L” after the final whistle.
For the St. Chux bench that only fielded 13 skaters that included plenty of fresh faces to the A-team fold, a three-point defeat didn’t seem disappointing at all.
“Actually, we’re pretty happy because this is the highest-ranked team that we are scheduled to play this year that we know of,” reflected SCDC captain Slaughterhaus afterwards. “We came really close to beating them. We were the underdog and we came back, so we’re really happy.”
Trailing 1-0 after the opening rotation, the Pack in Black grabbed their first lead of the game by capitalizing on a power jam and following Ankle BiteHer’s 22-13 point non-lead collection possessed a 22-14 edge. Doom Raider followed with a three-pointer at the 24:30 mark that widened the lead to 25-14.
Twin City then went on the attack with a 13-2 run over the next two jams that tied the score, 27-27, after Natty Slice’s 4-2 jam eight minutes deep.
St. Chux regained the lead with their second power jam of the game and proceeded to score 22 uncontested points over the next four jams. With blocking paced by Slaughterhaus, #smashtag, Judy Boom, and ShaKilla, Raider posted 10 points as the Pack in Black pushed the score to 37-27.
With help in front from Dani Disaster, Rocky Who and S’ Miles, BiteHer added seven on the next rotation and Raider’s power jam grand slam extended the score to 49-27 with 16:30 left in the half.
St. Chux managed to maintain the differential at plus-20 and held a 62-39 lead with ten minutes left in the period.
TCDG then flipped the script over the next three rotations and churned a 28-4 run that resulted in a lead change. Brawl Pocket’s 10-4 power jam scored with 8:15 remaining sliced the deficit to 66-49. Then after Chaquita Bandita notched four on the next jam, Slice helped Twin City regain the lead, 67-66, after a 14-point strike with six minutes left.
Anthrobrawlogist unearthed a 27-12 rotation on the next jam that widened TCDG’s lead to 94-78 with 3:15 left. Ultimately, the visitors possessed a 103-84 edge at intermission.
St. Chux started strong in the early jams of the second half and rolled out a 18-0 run. BiteHer’s four-point period launcher was followed by Hail Skatin’s 14-point strike that narrowed Twin City’s lead to a solo point, 103-102.
Twin City responded with seven straight over the next two jams and stretched their lead to 110-102 four minutes in.
As the period progressed, the narrative became the onslaught of jammer penalties committed by TCDG and the inability of St. Chux to capitalize due to the visitors’ stubborn defense.
With 8:25 left to play, Twin City maintained a 150-140 lead.
Then, the Pack in Black seized opportunity by once again utilizing power jams obtained and constructed a 22-0 strike over the next five minutes. Hail Skatin’s 14-point strike with 7:15 left flipped the scoreboard back in favor of SCDC, 154-150. A pair of scoreless jams was followed by an additional eight from Skatin’ that stretched the score to 162-150 with 3:40 remaining.
TCDG’s Anthrobrawlogist collected four with 2:30 left that whittled the score down to single digits, 162-154.
On the game’s penultimate jam, St. Chux posted a 19-7 rotation that widened the lead to 182-161 but in the process, a SCDC jammer penalty occurred. At the jam’s conclusion with seven seconds remaining on the period clock, Twin City would head into the final rotation with a power start that was aided by an additional St. Chux blocker in the box.
And they utilized that advantage en route to the come from behind victory. Anthrobrawlogist raced out to claim lead and began making multi-lap passes with the period clock expired but the jam clock still ticking away. In fact, seven scoring passes were collected and a 30-6 rotation was the result.
Via the late-jam heart breaker for the locals, TCDG had snatched the 191-188 win on the scoreboard but in the end, it was a positive character builder for SCDC.
“It thought it really was,” said Slaughterhaus. “We’ve been working really hard in the off-season and we learned what we needed to work on here.”
For Twin City, Anthrobrawlogist finished with 77 points followed by Slice’s 70. Meanwhile, SCDC (0-1) was paced Hail Skatin’s 71 followed by Raider’s 67.
The Pack in Black returns to Lamborghini Gold Coast on Saturday, May 12 to take on the Nashville Rollergirls, who are currently ranked #156.
“I think we really need to work on urgency and how that ties into endurance,” assessed Slaughterhaus. “When you get tired, you get sloppy. When you stand up, you don’t run back and play offense as fast.”
In the end, with so many unknown variables heading into their home and season opener, the captain said the Pack in Black were happy to record the game under their collective belts.
“Especially with us setting things up here, we just wanted to play,” she said.
For information on SCDC, go to their official website.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
ST. CHUX DERBY CHIX (188): Hail Skatin’ 71, Doom Raider 67, Ankle BiteHer 43, Dani Disaster 2.
TWIN CITY DERBY GIRLS (191): Anthrobrawlogist 77, Natty Slice 70, Chaquita Bandita 18, Vile 11, Brawly Pocket.
