Columbia, SC

By Darci “Ninja” McAfee

Coming off yesterday’s 4-point heartbreaker loss to 2016 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Columbia hosts Columbia QuadSquad, the #9 seed Ann Arbor Derby Dimes of Ann Arbor, Michigan, had high hopes against the #6 seed Santa Cruz Derby Girls of Santa Cruz, California, who suffered their own Friday night loss against #3 seed Denver Roller Derby of Denver, Colorado. But the crushing waves of Santa Cruz’s defense left the Brawl Stars stranded, and Santa Cruz advances with a 216-107 win.

Photo by Louis Keiner

Lezzie Arnaz and Terror Misu of Ann Arbor struck first with 6 collective points and quick call-offs, but Ace Wenchura of Santa Cruz charged back during a power jam to add 15 unanswered points of her own, and taking the lead along with those points. A star pass in the next jam from a stuck Misu to Just Wingett proved unsuccessful as the Santa Cruz defense became a tidal wave of blue jerseys, crushing the jammer repeatedly.

Ann Arbor called their first time out less than ten minutes into the game, hoping to regroup as the the score sat at 23-6 Santa Cruz. This proved successful as Santa Cruz jammer Queen Litigious was boxed on a forearm call, creating an Ann Arbor power jam for Slamuel L. Jackson. Queen was sent back to the box in the same jam for a subsequent back block, but Jax was unable to capitalize on the double power jam, only scoring 4 points. Lezzie started the next jam unopposed, but the Santa Cruz blockers were able to hold her long enough for Queen to take lead after bursting from the penalty box, bringing the score to 31-10 for Santa Cruz.

TARAism and Terror Misu then traded jammer penalties and the jam ran a full two minutes, with Santa Cruz managing to put a few more points on the board than Ann Arbor, winning the jam 10-4, setting the tone for the rest of the half. The Derby Dimes managed to score another 15 points compliments of Jax and Misu, but Skirt Vonna-gut, Ace, and TARAism went on a 51-point run to end the half 92-34. Of the 18 jams in the first half, Ann Arbor was held scoreless in 12 of them as Santa Cruz blockers, led by CoraZone, were a relentless tidal wave, pounding the Ann Arbor jammers and wearing them down.

Photo by Louis Keiner

Ann Arbor looked to utilize star passes more often in the second half, with Just Wingett showing some success as pivot-turned-jammer. But 3 consecutive jammer penalties for Slamuel L. Jackson was a huge blow for Ann Arbor, allowing Santa Cruz to take advantage with a 75-0 run led by TARAism, Ace, and Queen.

A successful star pass to Lethal broke the scoring drought and allowed Ann Arbor to keep pace and go point for point with Santa Cruz. However, there were only five minutes remaining on the game clock, and Santa Cruz had blown the score apart to 197-89 even after Lethal got Ann Arbor back on the board for the first time in seven jams.

Ann Arbor put points on the board for the next three jams as time slipped away, even fielding their top-scoring jammer Lezzie in back-to-back jams after using a well-placed timeout for rest, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the lead as and Santa Cruz rode its wave of points streaks to the win, 216-107.

Santa Cruz will advance to play Rainy City Roller Derby today at 4 p.m. EDT. Ann Arbor will play for ninth place tomorrow at 10 a.m. against the loser of this afternoon’s 12 p.m. game between Steel City Roller Derby and the Crime City Rollers.

Final Score

Santa Cruz Derby Girls (#6) 216
Ann Arbor Derby Dimes (#9) 107