WFTDA 2011 South Central Region Playoffs Day 1 Wrap Up

by Shelly Shankya

The first day of the South Central Region Playoffs, Show Me Der-B-Q, offered little surprises to spectators, excepting the upset in Bout 1.

Gold Coast Derby Grrls, the region's #9 seed, upset #8 Green Country Roller Girls 137-127 in a game that had nine lead changes throughout the game. Gold Coast advanced to play 1SC Kansas City Roller Warriors in Bout 5 at the end of the night. Green Country moved to the consolation bracket and plays 6SC in Bout 8 at noon on Oct. 1. The loss surprised Green Country captain, Jenatease.

"We couldn't find much strategy information about Gold Coast and that was an advantage for them," Jenatease said. "I'm really proud of our team, though. We've fought to make it this far. We made it this far, and we just have to keep pushing."

Bout 2 featured #7 No Coast Derby Girls matched up against the region's #10 seed, Omaha Roller Girls. The two teams have met repeatedly over the years, largely splitting the win-loss ratio, but No Coast came up with a big win during the tournament, defeating Omaha 159-45. As familiar with their strategy as the team is, No Coast blocker Thicka ThanAhSnicka thought things would be closer.

"Our pack play came together really well, and we were able to get everyone in the flow of things," Thicka said. "We've got a lot of new skaters on our team, and we executed things really well. We didn't want to put everything out there, but it wasn't as tough a game as we thought it'd be."

No Coast advanced to play #2 Texas Rollergirls in Bout 6 later in the day. Omaha moved to the consolation bracket and plays #5 Houston on Oct. 1 at 10:00 a.m. in Bout 7.

The third bout of the day was a highly contested bout between #4 Atlanta Rollergirls and #5 Houston Roller Derby. Atlanta took control of the game early and defeated Houston 133-111. Atlanta advances to play #1 Kansas City in Bout 10 at 2:00 p.m. on Oct. 1.

Bout 4 was another 20-point spread, though between #3 Nashville Rollergirls and #6 Tampa Bay Derby Darlins. Nashville edged out a win, 122-102 after Tampa held them scoreless for the first several minutes of the second half. However, when Tampa's jammer Barbie Bont fouled out in the second half, Nashville took advantage of the loss to the Tampa jammer rotation.

"We expected to win," Nashville jammer Rambo Sambo said. "We didn't expect the score to be that close, though. We're going to watch our penalties and clean things up before we play Texas tomorrow. This is our third time playing them, and there are a few things we plan to do differently."

Nashville advances to play the Texas Roller Girls, the winner of Bout 6, on Oct. 1 at 2:00 p.m. Texas handedly defeated No Coast, 274-64.

The final bout of the day showcased the tournament host, top seed Kansas City Roller Warriors, against #9 Gold Coast Derby Grrls. The first half of the bout left Gold Coast with 17 points to Kansas City's 164, and the second half of the game was largely a repeat of the first. Kansas City won 274-36 and advances to play #4 Atlanta in Bout 9. Gold Coast moves to the consolation bracket to play the winner of Bout 7.

South Central Playoffs Day 1 Results

• No Coast Derby Girls (#7) 159
  Omaha Roller Girls (#10) 45
  No Coast Derby Girls advanced to play the Texas Rollergirls later in the day; Omaha Roller Girls will move to the consolation round, playing Houston (#6) Saturday.

• Gold Coast Derby Grrls (#9) 137
  Green Country Roller Girls (#8) 127
  Gold Coast Derby Grrls advanced to play the Kansas City Roller Warriors on Friday; Green Country Roller Girls will move to the consolation round, playing Tampa (#5) Saturday.

• Atlanta Rollergirls (#4) 133
  Houston Roller Derby (#5) 117
  Atlanta Rollergirls head to the semifinals Saturday to challenge #1 seed Kansas City Roller Warriors; Houston will play Omaha (#10) in the consolation round.

• Nashville Rollergirls (#3) 122
  Tampa Bay Derby Darlins (#6) 102
  Nashville will also go to the semifinals Saturday to challenge #2 seed Texas Rollergirls; Tampa Bay will play Green Country (#8) in the consolation round.

• Texas Rollergirls (#2) 273
  No Coast Derby Girls (#7) 64
  Texas will face Nashville (#3) in the semifinals; No Coast will play the winner of the Green Country vs Tampa bout.

• Kansas City Roller Warriors (#1) 274
  Gold Coast (#9) 36
  Tournament host Kansas City Roller Warriors faces Atlanta in the semifinals; Gold Coast will play the winners of Omaha/Houston on Saturday.

View score updates and event information at showmederbq.com.

Full recaps and analysis are available at http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com.

Come back to wftda.com tomorrow for Live Day 2 action!