Cleveland, OH

By The Oxford Commakaze

In a battle for a spot at the 2015 International WFTDA Championships, the Kansas City Roller Warriors of Kansas City, Missouri, bested Houston Roller Derby of Houston, Texas, in the last semifinal game of the 2015 International WFTDA Division 2 Playoffs Cleveland.

Photo by Steve Jurkovic

The game started off tight as Houston jammer Big Bad Voodoo Dollie grabbed the first lead and points of the game for a 3-0 start, followed by a two-minute jam that left only a four-point differential, despite multiple passes by both team’s jammers. A lighting-fast hit-and-quit jam for Kansas City’s Reptar brought the game to a 16-16 tie five minutes in, and the first lead change came in the next jam as Kansas City blocker Enigma held Houston’s jammer at bay while JessiKaboom racked up 15 points to take a 16-31 lead.

That didn’t last long, though, as Houston held Kansas City scoreless for four jams and regained the lead, relying on brace-heavy defense and jammer-killing maneuvers by Brandi Brown and 2x Force. Then it was Kansas City’s turn to mount a comeback, holding Houston scoreless for four jams as well while inching closer to the lead as Kansas City’s Case Closed fought Houston blocker Death By Chocolate to escape the pack with four more points, bringing the score to to 43-41 in Houston’s favor.

A 22-point power jam nixed any ideas Kansas City may have had about taking the lead at that particular moment, though, as Slayer Moon raced around a Kansas City pack that at one point consisted solely of Enigma while the rest of her pack was in the penalty box. A series of Kansas City jammer penalties helped Houston widen the lead to 92-69 with barely five minutes left in the half. After a big jam that saw penalties to both jammers and double-digit points for both teams, the half finished with speedy and intense, but low-scoring, jams that brought Kansas City back within spitting distance of the lead, ending at 108-104 in Houston’s favor.

Kansas City came roaring into the second half with a massive 25-4 power jam that turned into a leadless two-minute jam, as Kansas City jammer JessiKaboom overcame vicious recycling by Houston’s Poysonberry Pie to win that jam, closely followed by a 19-point jam for Reptar while relying on Enigma once more to keep Houston’s jammer at bay. Although Houston held Kansas City to just 8 points in the next five jams, the Texas team only put up 7 points of its own, followed by a nice 10-point power jam to Bustin’ Beaver to dig them out and bring the score to 129-155 in Kansas City’s favor with 20 minutes to go in the game.

But after one more hit-and-quit jam for Houston, Kansas City held the team scoreless while putting up slow but steady points -- although Houston did hold JessiKaboom to just 4 points on a power jam thanks to a whole-team effort of devastating recycling on the apex, preventing her from getting lead for nearly a full minute. When Houston got back on the board again, it was in a 13-12 jam in its favor in which both jammers went to the penalty box, which wasn’t enough to be the game-changer they were looking for.

In the final minutes of the game, relentless physicality and smart penalties drawn by Kansas City’s blockers -- particularly a cut track call drawn by Bruz-Her on Houston’s jammer for yet another power jam -- kept Houston from putting up the point runs it needed. Kansas City’s jammers displayed that same physicality combined with graceful jukes as they continued racking up points, widening the lead to 82 points with just three minutes left in the game. Despite the clear deficit, Houston eked every possible point out of the last minutes of the game, beating jammer-throttling walls by Rump Wrecker and Xcelerator to post points in four of the last five jams. In an aggressive final jam in which Houston jammer Brandi Brown laid multiple hits on pivot-turned jammer Xcelerator to keep herself in the lead, Houston put up 28 points to Kansas’s seven, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the nice cushion Kansas City built. Thanks to Kansas City’s ferociously effective bracing and clever jamming, they won with final score of 196-249.

Kansas City will move on to play Demolition City Roller Derby tomorrow at 6 p.m EDT for first place in the tournament, although both teams will advance to the 2015 International WFTDA Playoffs for a shot at the WFTDA Division 2 Championship title. Houston will play the Santa Cruz Derby Girls for third place tomorrow at 4 p.m. EDT

Final Score

Houston Roller Derby (#6) 196
Kansas City Roller Warriors (#2) 249