In a jam that would show more of what was to come in the first half, Rat City’s Jalapeno Business began the game on the jam line and the lucky side of fate. Bay Area Derby Girls’ jammer, Nock Nock was sent to the penalty box for a cut major and allowed Rat to do what they do best and capitalize on a power jam. With the help of the RCRG offense, Business put up 20 points on the scoreboard to BAD’s 4 in jam one.
The next four jams were back and forth between the two teams. However, the highlight of these jams was the reintroduction of Anya Heels to the WFTDA tournament cycle. Heels dominated the pack with massive hits on blockers and jammers, forcing cuts and calls.
In jam five of the game Nock Nock (BAD) went on the line against Jalapeno Business and again went to the penalty box on the first pass, this time for a forearm major. With offensive help from Killah Kelly, Business scored a quick 20 points, mirroring her first jam and bringing the lead to 44-17. Forty of those points belonged to Business.
The next six jams featured BAD almost exclusively gaining lead jammer and, as a result, they inched closer to the ladies from the Seattle. Jam 11 ended with BAD within five points of the Rat lead.
In jam 12, for the first time in the half, Rat’s lead disappeared when Rat’s jammer, Carmen Getsome, was sent to the box with a major forearm. However, Anya Heels continued her defensive reign, demoralizing BAD’s jammer, Ivy Profane, with massive hits sending her to the floor over and over. Despite Rat’s best efforts, BAD took the lead with 56-51.
Though Rat’s penalty box was on heavy rotation of blockers, Rat’s jammer, Jalapeno Business scored a hat trick of power jams in the following jam. This powerjam allowed for Business to re-take the lead by ten points.
But easy come, easy go when, in the next jam, Kamikaze Kim was sent to the box as the jammer for Rat. This gave Lulu Lockjaw from BAD, an opportunity to re-take the lead before the end of the half. After a few back and forth jams featuring back and forth penalties for both teams resulted in a 103-92 BAD lead at the half.
Unfortunately for Rat, their penalty challenges from the first half plagued them as they began the 2nd half at a pack disadvantage, which continued for the first few jams of the half. After a BAD powerjam against Rat’s Missile America who went to the box for a major cut, the score showed BAD in the lead with 127 to Seattle’s 92.
But things began to look up for the ladies from the NW with a solid jam 4-0 by Kamikaze Kim which began a momentum shift for Rat. This continued with 2-1 jam by Carmen Getsome and a massive powerjam by Jalapeno Business (yet again) against BAD’s Chantilly Mace. This swing closed the gap to 136-121. Missile America and Carmen Getsome inched closer and closer towards the BAD lead.
This lead was finally closed in jam 34 of the game when both BAD’s Knock Knock and Rat’s Missile America went to the penalty box but Missile returned and brought Rat to a 148-148 tied score.
The jam that changed everything for Rat was when Carmen Getsome was sent to the penalty box as a jammer for cutting the track, but received a 2nd minute for insubordination towards a referee. Though Hard Cora had massive hits against BAD’s Chantilly Mace, Mace scored 24 points while Getsome cooled off. The next jam started with Getsome in the box and Lulu Lockjaw on the line for BAD. However, Lockjaw had Anya Heels to contend with, Heels made sure she was stuffed and on the floor for much of the jam. Though Getsome was released from the box and scoring, she was sent to the box a third time for 4 minors. This third powerjam in a row allowed for BAD to extend their lead to 205 to 152.
For the rest of the half Bay Area focused on clock management and penalty control. Rat’s Jalapeno Business and Carmen Getsome did an excellent job of matching BAD jammer points but not enough to get any closer to the tie Rat had just a few jams earlier.
In jam 42, Jalapeno Business lined up against Knock Knock but this time it was Business who went to the penalty box as a jammer, putting the nail in the coffin for RCRG. With one minute left on the clock, BAD’s Chantilly Mace took a quick lead jammer and then stopped skating on the track. Mace waited until the clock hit 0:00 and called off the jam, giving BAD a final score of 229-177.
RCRG Blocker of the game: Anya Heels; crushed the spirits of BAD jammers and reminded America why everyone knows her name.
RCRG Jammer of the game: Jalapeno Business and her offensive took strong advantage of her powerjams to make her Rat’s leading scorer.
BAD Blocker of the game: Brawllen Angel who contained Rat jammers over and over, getting her jammers consistent lead calls.
BAD jammer of the game: Lulu Lockjaw was clean and consistent on the track, delivering points and bringing a welcome new face to the BAD roster.