Season 3, Bout 4

The Bomber Babes took a big step toward defending their 2007 Salt City Derby
Girls league championship on Saturday night, topping the Death Dealers 105
89 in a hard-fought battle.

With the win, the Bombers improve to 2-0 on the season and earned a
berth in the title bout to be held Sept. 27.

The bout started off close, with the Bombers holding a 15-12 lead after four
jams. Then the Death Dealers ran into some early penalty trouble, forcing
jammers Moonraker and Lady Shatterly off the track. The Bombers defense
held the Dealers to two points in four jams, while N.O.S, Honey Delunatic and
Salt Lick racked up 17 points to build a 19-point lead.

In danger of letting the game get out of reach, the Dealers regrouped and
battled back. Lady Shatterly and Moonraker combined for 24 points in six jams,
cutting the Bombers' lead to three points with five minutes remaining in the first
half. At halftime, the scoreboard read: Bomber Babes 51, Death Dealers 44.

The second half began with a tactical struggle, as each team tried to defend
against its opponents' strengths. The Bombers finally broke through to a
double-digit lead when Salt Lick topped Lady Shatterly 5-0 in the eighth jam of
the period. Six jams later, the Bombers had built back to a 19-point lead.

In one of the most controversial plays of the night, Lady Shatterly took the line
against the Bomber's Cybil Disturbance in Jam 15 with just a few minutes
remaining in the bout. Trying to put a dent in the Bomber's lead, the Dealers
defense held Cybil Disturbance in the pack while Lady Shatterly lapped the
field for five points.

The trapped Cybil Disorder picked up her fourth minor penalty in the pack,
sending her to the box. Lady Shatterly, seeing the opportunity to score a lot of
points while the opposing jammer was out of play, waved to her teammates to
slow down the pack so she could catch up more easily. But a referee mistook
Lady Shatterly's wave for the hands-on-hips signal jammers use to call off a
jam, and blew his whistle to end the jam.

The stunned Death Dealers called a time out so captain Lady Octane could
discuss the play with officials, but there was nothing to be done but line up for
the next jam. Moonraker scored six points for the Dealers before being sent to
the penalty box, closing the gap to eight points. But her penalty left league-
leading scorer N.O.S. on the jammer line alone to start the final jam of the bout,
and N.O.S. won the jam 10-2 to bring the final score to 105-89.

-- Jennifer Philion (Lady Shatterly, SCDG)