Columbia, SC

By Darci “Ninja” McAfee

In the second game of the last day at the 2016 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Columbia, the Santa Cruz Derby Girls of Santa Cruz, CA, USA and the Columbia QuadSquad of Columbia, SC, USA played for 7th place. Playoff host league Columbia came out strong for their engaged hometown crowd in an intense game. Santa Cruz fought to maintain the highest ranking possible, having been upset by Rainy City on Saturday, losing the chance to defend their #6 seed.

Photo by Louis E. Keiner

Although Columbia’s Do U Juana strikes first with a quick 4 points, the next 7 leads would go to Santa Cruz, as they used quick, suppressive call offs to put up 23 unanswered points. Juana is awarded the first power jam for Columbia when Ace Wenchura is boxed on a cut track call and her 10-point run closes the score gap, 23-14, with Santa Cruz leading.

Both teams played a fast game and preferred a single point pass call off to prevent scoring. Sixteen minutes of gameplay elapse before both teams manage to score points during the same jam.

Poison Violet of Columbia adds 13 points on the second power jam of the game, and Columbia retakes the lead 33-43. But the Boardwalk Bombshells strike back, taking the next three leads, including a huge 20-point power jam by Ace Wenchura to regain the lead for Santa Cruz, 61-43.

Columbia calls for an official review with 1:52 remaining in the half, requesting that a cut track call on jammer Erin N. Carrino be overturned. Columbia loses their review and the call stands.

Skirt Vonna-Gut uses a 13-0 run to extend the lead to 92-46 with less than a minute remaining. Santa Cruz jammer Queen Litigious earns a high block penalty, allowing Juana to score 10 points on a power jam for Columbia. With time already expired for the first half, Santa Cruz requests their jammer penalty be overturned, but it stands and the half ends with a score of 92-56.

Skirt grabbed lead and 5 points for Santa Cruz to start the 2nd half. The next jam saw QuadSquad’s Carrino on a power jam after lead jammer Ace is boxed. The jam goes the full 2 minutes, and Carrino scores 14 to Ace’s 8. Columbia trailed by 35 points with 25 minutes remaining in the game.

Photo by Louis E. Keiner

Trading power jams, Santa Cruz’s TARAism grabs lead and 10 points and quickly calls of the jam to leave Rox Ann Stones stranded in the penalty box. Medics are alerted to a bloody nose, and Stones is replaced by Juana to serve the remainder of her penalty.

The second half continued to be a story of power jams, as Queen Litigious starts on a power jam for Santa Cruz but only grabs 3 points as Juana chases her down to force the call off. Another Columbia jammer penalty allows TARAism to grab a quick 5 points. Columbia calls a timeout at the 19-minute mark looking to regroup.

Queen Litigious widens the Santa Cruz lead with another 7 unanswered points, taking the score to 134-78. Double jammer penalties for Santa Cruz allow Columbia’s Holly Hunter to answer with 12 points and then another 13 from Poison Violet. Just when Columbia was starting to cut the deficit, TARAism replies with a 12-point run to bring the score to 146-103.

An official review called by Columbia swings in their favor, as they win and retain reversing a back block penalty, which creates a bit of a momentum shift in favor of the QuadSquad. Roasted Pony of Santa Cruz gets stuck behind a strong Columbia blocking contingent, and Poison Violet scores 19 to bring Columbia to within 27 points.

TARAism refuses to cede any ground to Columbia and pushes back with 14 points of her own in the following jam, but Poison Violet slices through the stunned Boardwalk Bombshells blockers to follow up with 15 points — 166-138 is the score as the second half winds down.

A lost official review by Columbia to contest the expulsion penalty of their blocker Nutmeg means Columbia can no longer stop the clock with 36 points separating the teams. Both jammers are penalized on what becomes the last jam with Skirt Vonna-Gut and Do U Juana now having to run out the two-minute jam clock, culminating in a final score of 174-141 in favor of Santa Cruz.

Columbia ends the tournament where they started at #8 and although Santa Cruz takes the win, they will leave in 7th place, having started as the #6 seed.

Final Score

Santa Cruz Derby Girls (#6) 174
Columbia QuadSquad (#8) 141