It was a close fight between Tampines Junior College and Serangoon Junior College in the preliminary game of the National A Division Netball Championships.

TPJC led with a score of 7-4 to SRJC during the first quarter. TPJC were showing hard defence against SRJC with interceptions which disrupted SRJ’s attacking flow. SRJC’s performance were a bit lacking due to mistakes from unstable footwork and passes but they were still steadily narrowing the score gap. TPJC were having a better start; the momentum of their play was smooth and their midcourt players were all running in perfect timing.

In the 2nd quarter the whole SRJC team picked up their pace and fought back and were able to improve their flow of play. However, due to the hard defence in the goal circle by the TPJC’s GK and GD from TPJC, SRJC’s attackers struggled to get the ball to their shooters. TPJC were consistent in their shooting and managed to hold on to their lead with the score of 14-10.

Things started to fire up during the third quarter. SRJC went in full force which caught TPJC off guard. SRJC continue to tighten up their defence and managed to break TPJC’s flow of play. With their coach closely mentoring the players, SRJC became more calm and controlled with their play. This enabled them to catch up the score gap. On the other hand, TPJC was panicking and allowed SRJC to have numerous turnovers which SRJC made full use of it. The shooters from SRJC continue to put in the shot every time the ball was in their hands, especially the GS who made many impressive shots from far distance. It became an intense 
match as they tied 19-19 at the end of the third quarter.

Tension rose quickly in the last quarter as both teams played with their hearts and displayed fearless defending. However, there were several contact calls made against TPJC which resulted in favor of penalties and turnovers for SRJC. The match was nerve-racking to watch and both teams certainly gave a good fight, In the end, SRJC emerged victorious and won with a score of 27-22 against TPJC.

Captain of SRJC, Joyce Leck, said “We started off shakily as there were many miss passes and our footwork were also unstable, which caused us to panic as we are down for the first two quarters. I think that we can do better for the first quarter.  We had trouble feeding in the ball into the goal circle as the TPJC defenders were very strong. I am glad we picked ourselves up and won the match. Overall, both our teams really wanted it badly as you can see from the close match.”