Naptown (#3) Holds Off Challenge from Detroit (#6)

by Vile Love It

Naptown Roller Girls (#3) versus the Detroit Derby Girls (#6) is an old and celebrated rivalry in the North Central Region, and both teams brought intensity to the track in Niagara Falls.

Detroit struck first, scoring one point on the first jam, but Naptown answered them quickly, scoring nine points in the next jam. It was the second jam, not the first, that set the tone for much of the game.

The game was incredibly fast-paced with both jammers and blockers showing great flexibility, moving sideways and backwards, dancing through the pack on their toe stops or turning as they made their way by opposing blockers. There were moments where it seemed both teams’ jammers spent more time on their toe stops than their wheels.

Photo by Bob Dunnell

The teams had two speeds: rabbit speed or turtle slow. The stopped, or mostly stopped, pack strategy was used by both teams to try to rack up as many points as possible on power jams, but the power jams were spread pretty evenly between the two teams. Naptown’s jammers spent 5 minutes in the box compared to Detroit’s 4 minutes.

Though Detroit’s jammers didn’t spend too much time in the box, their blockers did. During some jams it seemed as if there was a steady stream of Detroit players filling the box, and it showed in the stats. They spent 47 minutes in the box, compared to 35 box minutes for Naptown.

Naptown had superb pack control in the first half and solidly outscored Detroit 84-37. But Detroit came out of halftime with a mission. They successfully adapted to the game play and outscored Naptown in the second half 119-103. However, Naptown’s first half lead kept them in front of Detroit and Naptown grabbed the win.

“We really played as a team today. After our break, we were really struggling and we got down to the nitty gritty in practice and it showed today,” said Amooze Booche, a Naptown jammer. “Our communication played a huge role in our success today. Everyone just believed that we were going to come out with the win. It’s amazing how the world shifts when everyone is on the same page.”

The last time these teams met was last year’s North Central Region playoffs when Naptown won in another close game, 136-125.

Naptown Roller Girls (#3) 187
Detroit Derby Girls (#6) 156