Richmond, VA

Jacksonville recoups from jammer injury and pulls out a win over Terminal City

By Megan Enemies

Despite losing a primary jammer to injury in the first half, Jacksonville RollerGirls (#30, seed #8), of Jacksonville, Florida, defeated Terminal City Rollergirls (#38, seed #10), of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 162-127.

Each team played conservatively in the first half, as jammers got lead, grabbed a few points and called it. But Jacksonville gained a big advantage in jam 6, when Terminal City jammer Kim Janna went to the penalty box, followed by two of her teammates. Jacksonville blockers quickly trapped an opposing blocker to slow the pack and allow Crash Register to catch up. The jam ended with Jacksonville up 33-8.

Both luludemon and Evada Peron earned lead jammer status in subsequent jams, but called it because Jacksonville jammers were inches behind them. By getting lead, though, Terminal City prevented Jacksonville from scoring in six consecutive jams, even if Terminal City was also scoreless in four of those jams.

Janna earned lead jammer status, and with Miss Jax’em right behind her, she seemed to be signaling for her blockers to catch up and reabsorb Miss Jax’em. Jacksonville’s blockers, skating at the back of the pack, began to slowly decelerate, to keep Terminal City from sprinting forward.

Crash Register took a nasty spill toward the end of the second half and was unable to finish the game. Jacksonville had to switch-up its jammer rotation and put blocker Legs R Us on the jammer line. She got lead, and called it off for a 0-0 jam.

The first half concluded with a power jam for Miss Jax’em. Her teammate Nino Brown charged forward and laid huge hits on Terminal City defenders, to help Jax’em through. Going into halftime, the score was 84-43.

In the second half, Legs R Us – jamming against Barbarich – managed to slide through on the inside as the Jacksonville pack held Barbarich. Legs R Us called it after grabbing four points. Evada Peron – who earned lead status in five of her six first-half jams – nearly cleared the pack before Jacksonville captain Meow Mix ran forward and laid her out on the turn, allowing Jax’em to get lead.

Nuke donned the Jacksonville jammer star for the first time in the tournament, getting lead and calling the jam at 0-0.

Midway through the second half, Jamsterella went to the penalty box on a forearm call. With two of her teammates in the box as well, Terrminal City was able to add to their point total quickly. The jam ended at 113-94, in favor of Terminal City – and a Jacksonville timeout. Janna added three more points, but in a subsequent jam when luludemon and Jamsterella both went to the box and the jam lasted two minutes, Jacksonville began to pull away again. Janna then got called for a high block in the next jam, and the score was 153-109, with minutes left to play.

When Jax’em then got lead jammer status and Barbarich seemed to want to engage her, Jax’em played along, letting the clock run down in the penultimate jam of the game.

Final Score

(10) Terminal City Roller Girls 127
(8) Jacksonville Rollergirls 162

Jacksonville will play Kansas City for fifth place at 2 p.m. Sunday. Terminal City will play New Hampshire for seventh place at noon Sunday.