Duluth, MN

Treasure Valley Fends Off Suburbia to Advance

By Lois Slain

The game between 8 seed Treasure Valley Rollergirls (#59), of Boise, Idaho, and 9 seed Suburbia Roller Derby (62), of Westchester County, New York, was every bit as close as their rankings would suggest.

Photo by Ryan Quick

The first period was a relatively low-scoring, highly defensive slog as the teams traded lead status and low-scoring jams. Both teams displayed strong, braced defensive walls and repeatedly recycled jammers to the back of the pack while expending little energy on offense.

Although both teams dealt with a few jammer penalties through the course of the period, Treasure Valley in particular excelled at limiting the damage on the scoreboard when their scorer was penalized.

At one point in the first period it seemed that Treasure Valley was starting to pull away, but Suburbia came back fighting and regained the lead. They carried a small lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half, when Treasure Valley took advantage of Suburbia penalty trouble to regain a small lead.

Not to be deterred, Suburbia bounced right back, and the game remained within their grasp until the very end. However, Treasure Valley managed to stay one step ahead as the clock ran down.

With both teams cycling jammers through the box late in the second period, several jams ran for the maximum two minutes. While both teams were able to score, this worked somewhat in Treasure Valley’s favor by running down the clock and keeping the point spread about the same.

The game finished with a series of furtive hit-and-quit jams, with jammers nabbing a few points and calling the jam. In the final jam, Treasure Valley held a 15-point lead. After the teams’ respective defensive walls held the jammers for more than 30 seconds, Treasure Valley’s Dawn of the Shred emerged with lead jammer status and just about 30 seconds left on the period clock. She carefully picked up 5 points and called it a game.

Final score

(8) Treasure Valley Rollergirls 129
(9)Suburbia Roller Derby 109

Treasure Valley advances to play #1 seed St. Chux Derby Chix at 8 p.m. CDT on Friday. Suburbia moves on to the consolation bracket, where they will play the loser of Game 3.