The best offense is sometimes a good defense and that’s exactly what turned the tide for the Sea to Sky Sirens roller derby team on Saturday (May 24).
Trailing 131-124 to the Sunshine Coast based Red Tide Warning with eight minutes to go, a combination of great blocking, timely defense and strong jamming saw a 23-point jam for the Sirens and they cruised that momentum to a 189-135 win.
“That was the turning point,” said Kristi “Roxie Shocker” Anderson, who was the jammer on the 23 point score. “We recycled their jammer over and over and Honey just did an amazing job of blocking on that jam.”
The first half saw the Sirens squeak out a 76-75 but it was close, with the Warning opening up a 19-point lead with five minutes remaining only to have the Sirens storm back.
Sirens team captain Geneveive “Honey Badger” Medrano made her return to the floor at Brennan Park and said she was proud of the way the Sirens played.
“We have so many rookies this year and they are amazing,” she said. “Today was great and a lot of it was the vets guiding the rookies – we worked well together and it was so much fun.”
Medrano is known as one of the Sirens top jammers but she played an important role as a pivot on Saturday and created a lot of space for Sirens jammers.
“I didn’t want to start off jamming right all the time right away,” she said. “I wanted to ease myself into it and I’ve found that I’ve become a better blocker. Being a blocker helps you understand the game better and if you are a good blocker you can become a good jammer.”
Sirens head coach Green Lantern said despite the close score at halftime the Sirens remained calm on the bench and knew what they had to do to win.
“The girls played awesome and they showed a lot of track awareness today,” she said. “We got a little penalty heavy in the first half and that’s when they started to beat us.”
She said the Sirens fitness and overall athleticism helped them in the second half and helped lead them to victory.
“This is a very agile and fit team,” she said. “When it got down to the nitty gritty in the second half everyone pulled through and it helps with teamwork when everyone can play at the same speed out there.”
Medrano pointed out that the Sirens lost six girls last year and have eight rookies on the squad, who she said are progressing really well. She agreed with Green Lantern that penalties cost the team in the first half.
“We did a good job on defense and we held their hammers back,” she said. “I thought we played really smart especially in the second half when we slowed the game down and drew penalties. I’m so proud of the girls.”
MVP’s of the game were Ivonna Masterskate for the Warning and Mysty Mischief (jammer) and Cookie Don’t Crumble (blocker).
The Sirens return to Brennan Park Arena on June 7 when the Doomsday Bunnies come to town. For more details on the team, visit www.facebook.com/Sea.to.Sky.Sirens.
