Tucson, AZ

By Shelly Shankya

Game 13, lovingly called the Breakfast Club, of Day 3 of the 2015 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs in Tucson, Arizona, started off with a bang for Arizona Roller Derby (#8), scoring 32 points in the first two jams over Tri-City Roller Derby (#10). While offering Tri-City seven power jams in the first period, Arizona managed to hold on to their lead and capture ninth place.

Photo by Bill Zingraf

Despite getting a slow start, Tri-City found their stride in the middle of the first period, coming within 18 points of their opponents at one point. Powerful blocking and strong braced walls from Arizona blockers Toaster and Ginger ‘Reeking’ Havoc helped Arizona stay on top for the entirety of the game. Jammer Luz Chaos maintained a nearly perfect lead jammer status in the first period, only dropping one lead to Tri-City’s The Honey Badger in the 18th jam of the period. The lead scorer for Tri-City in the first period was Crazy Squirrel. Both teams exhausted their official reviews in back-to-back jams, and both teams’ reviews were denied by the officiating crew.

Tri-City blockers opened up the track for Arizona jammers, as Tri-City had more than one jam in the first period with a full penalty box. Of the 22 jams in the first period, Arizona gained lead 14 times, a statistic that was also reflected in the score at the end of the first period: 139-90 in favor of Arizona.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Coming out of the half, Tri-City continued to utilize star passes to defer points from Arizona, but the effort came up short, as Arizona succeeded in increasing their lead over the Tri-City Thunder. A rough patch for Tri-City came in jams 14 and 15 when jammer AnneX committed three track cut penalties in a row. During the ultra-power jam, blockers Block-N-Dekher and HFace Killa opened the track with tenacity, breaking through the Tri-City wall.

In the final minutes of the game, jammer action intensified as Luz Chaos and Crazy Squirrel engaged in jammer-on-jammer action, resulting in an opportunity for Luz to gain four unanswered points. In the following jam, Carbomb-Ya for Arizona and The Honey Badger for Tri-City committed nearly simultaneous track cuts, resulting in a jammer swap out in the penalty box. With under two minutes in the game, Tri-City called a timeout to regroup in hopes of staunching the point spread, which had grown to 74 points. The last jam was a track-cut kerfuffle, as the Arizona jammer went to the box twice. Tri-City jammer The Honey Badger tightened the gap from 74 to 69 points. The final whistle blasts blew, and Arizona emerged victorious despite 45 penalties to 40 for Tri-City.

Tri-City maintained their #10 seeding, and Arizona dropped one place to #9.

FINAL SCORE

Arizona Roller Derby (#8) 239
Tri-City Roller Derby (#10) 170