Wakey 226 – 74 Barnsley
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Photo sredit: Richard Nicholson
Wakey Wheeled Cats dominated from the start to take a home win in a Yorkshire derby against Barnsley Black Heart Rollers.
The Cats hosted their first home game in almost two years at Dewsbury Sports Centre on Sunday April 20.
And strong defense combined with determined jammers meant the league, who celebrated their fifth birthday this month, outplayed their rivals and jumped 50 places in the European rankings as a result.
They led from the front, with jammers Katie ‘Trouble’ Swift and Jenny ‘Bruisin’ Richardson both racking up early points.
It wasn’t long before Barnsley were also on the score card but by midway in the first half, solid defense and attacking offence had Wakey at 50 to Barnsley’s 11.
Barnsley stepped up the defense, turning to big hits in attempt to rein in Wakey’s points, but despite a power jam in their favour, they trailed behind at half time, with 31 to the Cats’ 93.
Both teams knew the game could have gone either way in the second half, and both came out fighting.
But it was the Cats who retained control of the game, and quickly smashed the 100-point mark. Two successive penalties for Barnsley jammers meant Swift was able to take the score to 125 to 46 minutes later while the Barnsley point scorer watched from the penalty box.
Determined Barnsley fought back putting big hits on the Cats defense to try to hold them off their jammers, but the Cats remained strong, with an 110-point lead midway through the second half.
Fancy footwork from Vicki ‘Coyote’ Gray had the crowd cheering as she skipped past the Barnsley defense with a 360 degree jump, picking up four points and calling off the a jam before the opposition jammer caught up with the pack in the dying minutes.
The final jam saw Richardson pick up more than 20 points to take the final score to 226 to 74.
The Cats next game is against Sheffield Steel Rollergirls’ Crucibelles on June 21 at Dewsbury Sports Centre.