Asheville, NC

By Beth Row

The one-sided penalty trend continued in game 12 of the 2013 D1 Playoffs in Asheville, North Carolina. The Nashville Rollergirls, competing in their second game of the day, drew more penalties and the score reflected it. Houston Roller Derby took advantage of power jams and short blocker defenses to take the win 221-63.

“We didn’t win this evening, but we won some small battles,” said Nashville’s Britches N’ Hose. “When we had five on the track we felt like we were doing a pretty darn job.”

The game started off with low scoring and the teams seeming evenly matched. The first two jams went 1-0 to Houston. Then Four-leaf Roller put up 4 points for Nashville, score 2-4 Nashville. Brandi Brown picked up lead jammer for Houston, but waited to call it and the jam ended 8-7 Houston. Nashville created another lead change with Ann T Histamine grabbing lead jammer and 4 points. The score was 8-11 in Nashville’s favor and 23:15 left in the first half.

Kit Ruff

Zip Drive gave Houston their first power jam of the game when she was called for a cut track penalty. Death By Chocolate scored 10 points and pushed the score to 20-14. Brandi Brown followed up to again secure lead jammer status and called it off after she scored 5 points.

Four-leaf Roller picked up lead jammer and hacked away at Houston’s lead. With 13:30 left in the first half, Nashville brought it back to a 6-point game with the score 38-32, Houston barely hanging on to the lead.

Houston put out a reliable jammer in Death by Chocolate and she scored 13 points making it 51-32, while her blockers held Nashville’s jammer in the pack.

Zip Drive was called for an illegal procedure, as she took out Mayhem Angelou on a low block after the 4th whistle with 10:35 left in the first half. Freight Train donned the star for Houston’s power jam. Out for lead jam, she called it off with 70-32 on the scoreboard and under 10 minutes in the period. Houston continued to add to their lead with Freight Train racking up points. Ann T Histamine passed the star to Dani Doom, but Freight called it off before Doom could score any points.

Britches N’ Hose posted a grand slam pulling Nashville to within 49, 89-40 Houston still holding on to the lead with under 3 minutes to play in the first half. Strong jamming performances by Freight Train and Death By Chocolate both stopped the forward momentum by Nashville and the half ended 99-46.

In the first jam of the second half, Freight Train picked up lead jammer but had to call it after only picking up 2 points. Ann T Histamine tried to pick up points on the inside line, but was called for a track cut. Death By Chocolate juked her way to 24 more points.

Houston continued to put points up on the board while Nashville’s blockers couldn’t stay out of the box and Nashville often had only 2 blockers on the track.

With the score reading 207-55, Ann T Histamine was called for illegal procedure for contact with Death by Chocolate after the whistle. After an official review, the call was reversed and both Nashville and Houston fielded jammers with 5:52 left in the game. Four-leaf Roller put 3 points on the board but it was almost too late. For the last jam, Death by Chocolate won lead jammer over Ann T Histamine, then waited for the period to end and called it. The final score was Houston 221, Nashville 63.

“We played our game and we had fun,” said Houston’s Death by Chocolate.

final score

(7) Houston Roller Derby 221
(8) Nashville Rollergirls 63

Houston will play Steel City Roller Derby for 5th place. Nashville will play Oklahoma Victory Dolls for 7th place.