Jan 19, 2015 | Bout News

Dagger Dolls Slam and Jam to a 98-87 Victory

By Fire Wally

The Dagger Dolls ended their regular season losing streak at Saturday’s Slam Jam Thank You Ma’am event, winning over the Garda Belts 98-87. The Dolls used their deep roster of jammers to build a 40-point lead in the second half and withstood a late Gardas comeback to claim victory.

The Garda Belts were the first out of the gate in the second bout of the night. Garda Jammers Second Hand Smoke, Ida Sockher, and Shiva Shank’n all earned lead jammer in the first three jams, bringing their team to an early 20-0 lead. The Dagger Dolls struck back immediately, however, as accumulated blocker penalties on the previous jams meant that the Gardas had to start the next jam with just one blocker, Crust Almighty, on the track. After Dolls’ jammer Jacked Pipes earned lead jammer and 4 points, the score stood at 20-4 Gardas with 15 minutes left in the half.

The Dolls then turned that 16-point deficit into a tie game and then a lead with rock-solid defense that held the Gardas to just 3 points over 13 jams. The Dolls did damage with Pipes, Kayzilla, MEDUSA, Winona Collider, BiPolar Bear, Kung POW Bitchin’, and Shiver Me Kimbers all serving as jammer, each notching the score forward by a few points at a time or earning lead and calling off the jam before the Gardas jammer could score. As the first half came to a close, the Dolls had earned a 43-32 lead.

The Dolls expanded this lead in the second half, pushing the score as high as 81-42 with 12 minutes left in the game, but then the Gardas struck back hard to try and keep themselves out of last place in the standings. Shiva Shank’n, Ida Sockher, and Tara Bichapart all racked up big jams in a row to bring the score as close as 84-72 with 3 minutes remaining in the game. Shiva outscored MEDUSA on the next jam to make it 86-77 Dolls with under 2 minutes remaining in the game.

Any jam that starts with less than two minutes is dangerous for the trailing team – if they don’t earn lead jammer, their opponents can end the game as soon as the game clock ticks down to 0:00 and deny them the chance at another jam. This proved to be exactly what happened to the Gardas, as Shiver Me Kimber exploded off the line and earned lead jammer. This on it’s own didn’t end the game, as there was still over a minute left on the clock, but SMK managed to stay moving forward cleanly, staying on the same scoring pass as Scootaloo, then called off the jam with the Dolls still in the lead, cementing the Dolls’ first regular season win in over a year.

Bout Highlights

First Half 15:00 – Kayzilla jamming for the Dagger Dolls. She shows cunning on her initial pass, sneakily stepping around the wall to earn lead jammer, and then raw power on her scoring pass, dropping a shoulder and ramming her way to 4 points.

First Half 13:00 – MEDUSA and Shiver Me Kimbers team up to draw a track cut on Second Hand Smoke. Veteran skaters like Smoke almost never slip up and enter the track in front of the skater who knocked them out, but even the best jammers sometimes miss a blocker running back away from the line like MEDUSA does here. By re-entering in front of MEDUSA, Smoke earns a trip to the Surly Furious Sin Bin.

First Half 9:00 – Kung POW Bitchin starts to push the Gardas wall forward, but doesn’t see Bettie LaRude, who comes out of the penalty box into her side like a truck and bowls her over. POW gets the last laugh here though, getting right back up and earning lead jammer and 2 points.

Second Half 16:00 – Gardas’ jammer Shiva Shank’n knocks Jacked Pipes out of bounds right at the start of the jam, then does an unconventional maneuver to get a 1-lap advantage. With Pipes out of bounds (who now has to come in behind Shiva to avoid a track cut penalty), Shiva skates full-steam in the wrong direction, signaling to Garda blockers Scootaloo and Beach Slap to get to the front. Shiva goes all the way around the track clockwise, forcing Pipes to come in behind her and the green wall as Shiva takes off again in derby direction. That starts Pipes on a “lap -1”, giving Shiva extra time to earn lead jammer and 5 points.

Second Half 9:00 – Shiva Shank’n is on a power jam opportunity for the Gardas, almost finished with her first scoring pass. Kung POW Bitchin’ cuts off the angle and runs full-speed at Shiva’s chest, which unfortunately for Shiva is a legal target zone. POW earns herself the ScutiePie Hot Pants Hot Shot award, but Shiva does manage to recover and score 9 points on the jam.

Second Half 4:00 – After big jams from Shiva and Ida Sockher, the Garda Belts are trying to keep the momentum of their comeback going. Olga Olgilthorpe steps up in a big way and shoves Jacked Pipes out of bounds and draws her way back, giving Tara Bichapart enough time to rack up 6 more points and put the Gardas that much closer.

Bout Awards

Pizza Luce Player of the Game – Shiver Me Kimbers
Derby for All Game Changer – Crust Almighty
ScutiePie Hot Pants Hot Shot – Kung POW Bitchin’