Sin City Neanderdolls 75 at Detroit Derby Girls 129

Posted on October 16, 2007

– October 12, 2007
– Detroit, MI
– by Rusty Wheeler

The Detroit Derby Girls gained a measure of revenge by whipping the Sin City Neanderdolls 129-75 at the Masonic Temple in downtown Detroit. The bout was a deferred rematch, harkening back to when Sin City beat Detroit 145-92 in Las Vegas way back on March 25, 2006. That match was the first ever “travel” match for Detroit (Vegas had been bouting for about a year at that time), and only the second match ever for the fledgling DDG skaters. Detroit has come a long way since that first Sin City match, up to a Nationals bid, and it showed on October 12.

It seems that many times home teams jump out to an early lead based on their “home floor” advantage, but on October 12, Sin City jumped into an early 9-4 lead after two jams. After seven jams, Sin City led 18-11, and after the 9th jam it was 23-13 in favor of the visitors from way out west. It was beginning to look like the match would possibly be a repeat of the first meeting between these two teams. Detroit regrouped, reevaluated and took charge in the final three jams of the 1st period. Detroit’s Racer McChaseHer outscored captain Ivanna S. Pankin of Sin City by an 18-6 margin in two of those jams, and D-town’s Rock Candy chipped in with a 1-0 jam to give Detroit the lead 32-29 by the first intermission. The first period featured fairly slow, organized packs, with both teams focusing on solid defense. Detroit’s “Most Feared Skater” (’06 and ’07) Killbox started doing some serious “head-hunting” wiping out a few Neanderdolls, including Sin City’s Bruce Killis in a most spectacular way in the 9th jam. Cookie Rumble also took a well-timed major penalty in the 8th jam when she floored Sin City’s jammer Skid (receiving a 20 ft. penalty), allowing Detroit’s Racer McChaseHer to get by and take lead jammer, which ended up a 2-0 jam for Detroit.

The 2nd period saw Detroit take firm charge of the game. Racer McChaseHer, who had 24 points in the 1st period, opened the scoring with a 9-4 jam over SCRG’s Bruce Killis. Then D-town jammers Rock Candy and Honey Suckit outscored SC in the next two jams 9-4. The following two jams saw Detroit’s Racer and Killbox outscore Sin City 9-0, then in the 6th jam Racer pulled off a 14-0 jam to give Detroit a 73-37 lead about halfway through the 2nd period. Detroit’s blockers played smart during that time, slowing the pack enough to help Detroit’s jammers come around to score. There were times when the D-town blockers slowed the majority of the pack to put a couple of Sin City blockers too far in front of the pack to legally block, and so the Neanderdolls blockers had to meekly yield and allow Detroit’s jammers to pick up easy points. All in all, Detroit’s blocking shut out Sin City in four of the first six jams of the 2nd period, and shut them out in eight of the period’s 13 jams. At one point, after 10 jams, Detroit had doubled Sin City’s score, leading 82-41, but then SC’s Bruce Killis outscored Elle McFearsome 11-4, cutting the lead to 31. That jam, the period’s 11th, was the highlight of the 2nd period for Sin City. Detroit led after two periods, 90-53. Unfortunately for Sin City, they lost their leading jammer, Ivanna S. Pankin, to an aggravated injury in the 3rd jam. Ivanna came back and tried to skate in the 6th jam, but she took herself out of the game. She had scored 20 points (54% of Sin City’s points at that time) in the game up to that point.

The 3rd period saw fatigue became a major factor, but the hard hitting and head hunting continued. The packs began to string out, and it seemed that Sin City was worn down. Detroit’s Racer McChaseHer only skated the first jam of the 3rd period, scoring 6 points to give her 67 for the game, her 2nd-best effort ever in the 10 games she has now skated. She also is the career points leader for Detroit with 528 points, passing Honey Suckit, who had been the career points leader. Both Honey and Racer scored their 500th career points in the game. Racer scored her 500th point in the 6th jam of the 2nd period. Honey Suckit tallied 10 points in the game, giving her exactly 500 career points, scoring her 500th point in the 4th jam of the 3rd period. Detroit’s blockers once again skated well and shut out the Neanderdolls in six of the 3rd period’s 12 jams, including holding the Neanderdolls scoreless in the last four jams of the game.

When the game was over, Detroit had won it 129-75, and there was much rejoicing amongst the Detroit players and fans. Detroit’s Killbox was named MVP of the game. Detroit’s Racer McChaseHer was the Jammer of the Game, scoring a game-high 67 points in 11 jams. Other Detroit scorers were Killbox, 21 pts (6 jams); Vega Vendetta, 15 (4); Honey Suckit, 10 (7), Rock Candy, 5 (2); Elle McFearsome, 4 (1); Cookie Rumble, 4 (4); Del Bomber, 3 (2).
Scoring for Sin City were Skid, 26 pts (11 jams); Ivanna S. Pankin, 20 (7); Bruce Killis, 15 (Trish the Dish, 7 (2); Pearly Gates, 4 (4); Victory Lane, 3 (1).

Sin City travelled to Grand Rapids to battle the Grand Raggity Rollergirls on October 13. Detroit’s travel team is on a break so the skaters can prepare for the opener of their 2007-2008 home season with a rematch of last year’s championship bout between the defending DDG Champions - the Pistolwhippers, and the runners-up from ’07 – the Devil’s Night Dames.

The DDG home season opens on November 10, and bouts will be every second Saturday through May. The DDG are offering presale tickets this season, and they could save you a few bucks so check out www.detroitderbygirls.com for info on this and other upcoming events.

Detroit’s next travel team game is scheduled for January 19th, 2008 against the Ohio Rollergirls in Columbus,OH.

© Copyright Detroit Derby Girls • Powered by Wordpress