15th May 2015, Temasek Polytechnic – Raffles Institution Junior College (RIJC) once again proved to be a strong contender for the championship when they defeated Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) 61-39 in the Round 2 playoff for the National Inter School ‘A’ Division Netball Championships 2015.

Both teams took some time to settle into the game initially but once they got into the rhythm of the game, both teams fought hard and put up an equal fight, ending the 1st quarter with a 12-12 draw.

The ball possession was mostly in RIJC’s favour in the 2nd quarter. This enabled them to score goals and pulled away from the draw. HCI continued to push and strive to catch up to their opponents. 

RIJC started strongly in the 3rd quarter and the point gap steadily widened in favor of them. HCI attempted to steal back some points but RIJC defended well and intercepted some of their passes and caught most of the rebounds. The 3rd quarter ended 29-44 to RIJC.

The 4th quarter saw RIJC starting with a quick series of passes. Ball possession kept changing from one team to the other in the first few minutes of this quarter. It ended when HCI scored a goal after a pass to the RIJC’s GA was intercepted. HCI resumed with making quick and short passes, and even though they lost ball possession at one point, the defenders regained possession of the ball and scored at the final three minutes 55-35 before HCI called for a timeout due to a suspected injury.

A second timeout was called about a minute after the quarter resumed when a player from HCI got injured. The player was substituted and RIJC gave their opponents no time to recover as they pushed for victory. They rushed to capture one point after another and, despite the big gap in points, HCI still had fire within them as they tried tirelessly to close the gap. It was, however, inevitable that RIJC took the win with 61-39.

On what are their thoughts on their opponents, Jie Min, Centre (C) for RIJC, said, “We can see that they gave their very best and every one of them was putting in a lot of effort.”

Miao Wen, Captain and GA of HCI, stated that her team had tried their very best, knowing that the other team was very strong. They played hard and gradually improved throughout the season.

When asked what was it they needed to improve, Tessa, Captain of RIJC, said that they needed to work more on settling down. Miao Wen, on the other hand, stated that her team needed to be more calm and composed and work on their defence.

 Scores by quarter:

 HCI vs RIJC
 1Q: 12-12
 2Q: 8-17 (20-29)
 3Q: 9-15 (29-44)
 4Q: 10-17 (39-61)