Asheville, NC

Oklahoma Defeats Nashville in Repeat of Game 1

By Beth Row

Game 14 of the 2013 WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs in Asheville, North Carolina, was a rematch of game 1, between the Nashville Rollergirls, of Nashville, Tennessee, and the Oklahoma Victory Dolls of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Penalties once again played a big role as did the incredibly fast-paced packs. Nashville put up a good fight, but Oklahoma was once again victorious with a 131-200 score.

T Pain put the first 2 points on the board for Oklahoma. A forearm penalty on Blood Bjorn Pathogen sent her to the box, creating a power jam for Zip Drive in just the second jam of the game. Zip Drive swapped places with Bjorn when she attempted an apex jump and was called for track cut. Blood Bjorn Pathogen raced out of the box for a 5-20 Oklahoma lead at the jam’s conclusion.

Four-leaf Roller posted 4 points on the board for Nashville, bringing the score to 9-20 with more than 25 minutes left to play in the first half. Oklahoma still had the lead.

A series of lead jams for Oklahoma made the score 9-26, 23:05 left. Four-leaf Roller called for blocking out of bounds and gave the Victory Dolls a power jam. But T Pain picked up a misconduct call and was sent to the box. The jam ended at 13-35 Oklahoma holding on to the lead. As the packs started to pick up the pace, a worn out Zip Drive passed the star for Nashville to Union Jack U Up, but she was also unable to get through a blistering paced-pack of Jennatease, Mount Crushmore, DEZdispenseHER and Molly Menace. Oklahoma gripped tight on the lead 13-50 with 18:22 left in the first half.

About halfway through the first period, Nashville got a chance to catch up on a power jam. Zip Drive fought through Tackle Your Fancy, Esha Spades, Jem Reaper and Princess Panic for 10 points. With Oklahoma’s Dolly Dynamite standing in the box, Nashville’s Ann T Histamine juked around on the inside line for lead jammer and picked up 3 points. Nashville pulled within 23, 27-50 with 13:49 left in the first half.

T Pain went to the box on high block penalty, handing Four-leaf Roller a power jam. Nashville pulled even closer at 42-50. Ann T Histamine put up 5 more points for Nashville as the penalty box started to fill up for both teams. Both jammers fought through a racing pack for 50-59, Oklahoma. Nashville’s Four-leaf Roller put 2 more points up as Molly Menace was caught in the back of the pack and Jem Reaper was in the penalty box. Ann T Histamine put another 4 on the board for Nashville, 56-59 under 7 left to play.

Bjorn was called for a forearm, giving Four-leaf Roller another power jam. Nashville took the lead with 74-64. Czech 1-2 was also called for a forearm penalty on the very next jam. Four-leaf Roller drew clockwise penalties on 2 Oklahoma blockers. The Oklahoma penalty box was full and the score was 86-64 with 38 seconds in the half.

During a brief ref conference, Jennatease for Oklahoma was expelled for gross misconduct. According to head ref Sugar Daddy, Jennatease made forcible contact to a Nashville bench manager on her way to the penalty box.

Nashville’s Ann T Histamine jammed her way to a 95-64 halftime score. A scoreless jam and a delay of game penalty on Oklahoma opened up the second half. Oklahoma’s T Pain benefitted from a power jam when Nashville’s Ann T Histamine back blocked off the start line. Oklahoma brought it back to a 20-point game at 99-79 with less than 25 minutes in the game.

“One of the things we’ll talk about at halftime (and we talk about it a lot) is going back to the track each jam at 0-0,” said Oklahoma’s Dolly Dynamite. “We’re not losing this game; we’re winning this jam. Just starting over every time we sit down and winning one jam at a time.”

Another strong jam by Blood Bjorn Pathogen pulled Oklahoma to 99-88. Zip Drive picked up lead jammer for Nashville, but was sent to the box on a forearm penalty after scoring 1 point. The star for Oklahoma passed to Jem Reaper as Jammin Jane looked gassed. At the jam’s end, Nashville’s lead had slipped to 100-93.

Oklahoma’s Dolly Dynamite scored 5 points to take the lead back with 19:11 left in the game, but Zip Drive escaped the box. Nashville took a timeout. Following the timeout Nashville placed Ann T Histamine against T Pain, on the jammer line and both teams had 3 blockers on the track. T Pain won out on lead jammer status after battling in the pack for 30 seconds. T Pain scored 2 points but didn’t call it off in time and Nashville also picked up 2 points.

Oklahoma was rolling with the momentum until Czech 1-2 cut the track around for a second scoring pass. Tackle Your Fancy, Princess Panic, Esha Spades slowed down Zip Drive, but Nashville was still able to retake the lead - 116-112. Ann T Histamine was able to chase down the pack to add 2 more points.

Oklahoma regained their footing and picked up lead jam for Blood Bjorn Pathogen. Bjorn pushed the score to 118-135 before being called on a track cut and insubordination. Four-leaf Roller cut the track, releasing Bjorn, but Oklahoma’s jammer was called for illegal procedure upon re-entering the track. This created the first jammerless jam of the tournament. Both packs were content to catch their breath and stood still in position the track. After 20 seconds, Four-leaf Roller was released. The score read 131-135 with just under 8 minutes on the game.

Nashville had another jammer penalty when Ann T Histamine was called for a back block; Jammin Jane grabbed lead jammer and 5 points. Oklahoma slowly built on that lead as the clock started to wind down.

“It’s one of those games we wish we had a few more jams, because it just started to run away from us. Overall I’m proud of the team, I’m proud of our progress this season,” said Nashville Captain Britches N’ Hose.

As Nashville’s blockers flocked to the box, Bjorn increased Oklahoma’s lead to 131-180 and only 2:10 left on the clock. Czech 1-2 finished the game 131-200.

Final Score

(9) Oklahoma Victory Dolls 200
(8) Nashville Rollergirls 131

Oklahoma improved on their tournament seeding to finish in 7th Place. Nashville finished in the same spot - 8th Place.