Bout Recap May 3rd: Rhinestones vs. Holy Rollers
On Sunday night, the TXRD Rhinestone Cowgirls skated against the Holy Rollers. Would last year’s victory by the Rhinestone Cowgirls that marred the otherwise perfect season for the Holy Rollers prove to be a fluke? Or would the Holy Rollers revenge themselves?
The bout began slowly. Kategory 5 scored one point for the Rhinestone in the first jam. A scorelss jam followed, and then Truckstop Trixie added another point for the Rhinestones. Smarty Pants took away a Rhinestone point by standing her ground during a tug of war penalty. Several times in this quarter, the Holy Rollers used the strategy of gaining lead jammer status and then calling off the jam before either team could score points. Kategory 5, showing why she was last season’s rookie of the year, finally shot through the pack to give three more points to her team. A penalty on Ms. Behavin’ drew a Two Lap Duel on the penalty wheel; she tagged out and Sacralicious took her place against Truckstop Trixie. Trixie won, taking two points away from the Holy Rollers, which put them into negative point totals. Smarty Pants got one point back for the Holy Rollers, but it was just as quickly taken away by a pillow fight victory for Kategory 5. On the next jam, Smarty Pants snuck through the pack and scored three points, finally putting the Rollers into the positive score totals. (She was helped through the pack with nice blocks by Anita Confess and Sacralicious) Kategory 5 scored a full jam for the Rhinestones, and then Sacralicious did the same for the Rollers, bringing the score at the end of the first quarter to Rhinestone Cowgirls 8, Holy Rollers 5.
The second quarter began with Miss Canada scoring two points for the Rhinestones while several hard blocks from Ali Mony held back HR jammer Damsel Distresser. A duo of close jams followed: Smarty Pants and Kategory 5 sped through their pack to score two and four points; Truckstop Trixie and Horrorshow each picked up a single point on the next jam. The Holy Rollers then began to cut away at the Rhinestone Cowgirl lead: Sacralicious scored 3 points after winning an arm wrestling penalty, Hispanic Panic added one point, and Smarty Pants jammed for two more. This tied the score at 14. A tight jam between Damsel Disresser (two points) and Rollergasm (three points) was followed by a jam where a major penalty was called on Smarty Pants. On the reskate, Truckstop Trixie subbed in for an injured Rollergasm, got into a fight with Sacralicious, and ended the half without either team scoring in the jam. The score at the half was Rhinestone Cowgirls 17, Holy Rollers 15.
The top point scorers for the first half were Kategory 5 for the Rhinestones and Smarty Pants and Sacralicious for the Holy Rollers. The top blocker for the Rhinestones was Mummy Dearest and Anita Confess for the Holy Rollers.
After half time, it seemed like the Rhinestone Cowgirls adjusted their strategy. They began to control the pack speed and better use that speed to their advantage. Sacralicious and Kategory 5 opened the second half with a very fast jam where they each picked up two points. Both jammers in the next jam set were thwarted by big blocks: Damsel Distresser was hit by Miss Canada, and Rollergasm was railed by Mz. Behavin’. Miss Canada was called for a major and Damsel Distresser scored a full jam on the reskate. In addition to adjusting their pack speed, the Rhinestones really began to give some hard hits. After a scoreless jam where Smarty Pants was held back by Mummy Dearest, Truckstop Trixie won a pillow fight penalty against Smarty Pants. The next jam was huge for the Rhinestones: Kategory 5 scored SIX POINTS in a “grand slam plus one” jam. This charged up the momentum towards the Rhinestones. Rollergasm added another point for the Rhinestones; Smarty scored one for the Rollers. The Rhinestones were doing a great job of getting to the front of the pack so they could control the speed and hold back the Holy Roller jammers. The score at the end of the third quarter was Rhinestone Cowgirls 26, Holy Rollers 22.
Sacralicious broke out of the first jam set and got way out in front, but then tripped over her own team member and injured her shoulder. Rollergasm scored another Rhinestone point, but Motley Sue picked up a minor. Sacralicious, using her good arm, defeated her in an arm wrestling penalty. Smarty Pants scored a point to continue to chip away at the Rhinestone lead. A major penalty on Mummy Dearest resulted in a reskate, but both jammers were held scoreless. The Rhinestone Cowgirl skaters were simply speeding away, making it very difficult for the Holy Rollers to catch them and score. Sacralicious, as lead jammer over Kategory 5, called off her jam in a defensive maneuver. Damsel Distresser made use of a good whip by Sacralicious to score two points for the Rollers. A penalty called on Cathy Lix spun a two-lap duel on the penalty wheel. With the score so close, this penalty really mattered. Truckstop Trixie eked out a victory over Cathy Lix, who fought her every step of the way, to take away a crucial Holy Roller point. In the next jam, neither jammer (Sacralicious and Rollergasm) could make it into scoring position due to the speed of the pack. Sacralicious attempted to whip herself past Rollergasm to score a last second point. Rollergasm went down with an injury. For the final jam, the Rhinestone Cowgirls were ahead by two points. Each team sent their most reliable jammer to the line: Smarty Pants and Kategory 5. The pack speed kept either jammer from scoring and gave the Rhinestones the victory. Final score: Rhinestone Cowgirls 26, Holy Rollers 24. This bout was very close and intense. There was a lot of exciting skating, with some of the fastest jammers and hardest hitting blockers in the league squaring off against each other.
See you all at the next bout–the undefeated Hellcats skate against the undefeated Cherry Bombs to determine who will have the advantage going into the playoffs. See you at the Thunderdome!