Omaha (#8) holds steady against Tallahassee (#9)

By Shelly Shankya

For 10 of the first 14 jams at the opening bout of Landlocked Lace Up, Omaha Rollergirls (#8) kept Tallahassee Rollergirls (#9) scoreless. The ladies from Omaha held the Tallahassee Capital Punishment back, widening the score to 52-10 for the first several minutes. Two major track cuts for Tallahassee's jammer Stoneher made racking up points look effortless for Omaha.

Photo by Josh Pettway

However, serious penalty trouble on Omaha's part opened the door for the Capital Punishment to start scoring. In fact, Tallahassee closed the gap to only 10 points by the 24th jam. The two teams traded 28 jams in the first half, and Omaha again started to pull away from Tallahassee before the half's conclusion. Omaha ended the half 91-68.

"When Tallahassee got within 10 points of us, we had to think and reset ourselves," Omaha blocker Dnaille Inya Coffin said. "We can have a tendency to lose it sometimes, and we had to talk each other down. We just reminded each other why we're here and what we need to do to win."

Omaha came back recharged and focused in the second half, holding Tallahassee close for several jams, even during the fourth jam when no lead jammer was called. Omaha jammer Anna Maniac stayed on the heals of Tallahassee's Low Maim, maintaining a four-point differential at the end of the jam. Later, during another Low Maim-Anna Maniac match up, Low went out for a major back block and Anna scored 18 points during the power jam.

Of note were Omaha's blockers. While they were often in the penalty box, the team's big hitters were out in force backing the two regular jammers: Anna Maniac and Ima Firestarter. Daisy Mayhem fouled out near the end of the second after accruing seven majors. The big points scored by Tallahassee's top jammers Low Maim and Great Wall of Gina weren't enough to keep the gap to a comeback level. Omaha rolled away with the win, 201-142. This is the first time in three South Central Region Playoffs that Omaha has advanced after the first round bout. Omaha will play the Texas Rollergirls at 6 p.m. today. Tallahassee moves to the consolation bracket to play on Saturday.

"Oh my god, we're super excited to play Texas tonight and learn a lot," Dnaille Inya Coffin said. "It's gonna be a hell of an experience."

Omaha Rollergirls (#8) 201
Tallahassee Rollergirls (#9) 142