Dec 14, 2015 | Bout News

Tear It Up: Garda Belts Win Over Dagger Dolls

By Fire Wally

The Garda Belts kicked off the Minnesota RollerGirls regular season with a win at the Tear It Up event, overcoming a strong Dagger Dolls squad to win 170-100. After a closely-fought first half, the Garda Belts used a dynamic, offense-driven attack to build an insurmountable lead in the second half.

First Half

Jacked Pipes came screaming through the inside line to claim lead jammer in the first jam of Tear It Up’s second bout. After careening around the track, Pipes took advantage of chaos in the pack to score an easy 4 points and call off the jam. The Gardas struck back on the next jam, however, with Tara Bichapart, OCDevious, and Knoxher Blockoff keeping Dolls’ jammer Freddy contained while Crust Almighty made three scoring passes for 14 points.

The Gardas then expanded on that lead with Second Hand Smoke, Hal’luci-Jen, and Beach Slap all recording big jams while Garda blockers made enough room for comfortable scoring passes. With 14 minutes left in the half, Garda jammer Luci and Dolls’ jammer Winona Collider both went to the Surly Sin Bin in the same jam, giving each other power jam opportunities. Neither teams’ blockers made it easy for the other, however, as Luci got blasted to the outfield by Kung POW Bitchin’ during her power jam and Wino got stuffed by Tara Bichapart during her time unopposed. When the jam expired for time, Luci had managed to outscore Wino 9-8, leaving the Gardas with a 27-16 advantage.

The Gardas won a few small victories over the next two jams, but then the Dolls struck back again with a strong power jam from Winona Collider, who scored 10. Shotgun Millie built on the Dolls’ momentum in the next jam, taking advantage of a track cut penalty called on Beach Slap to take her own shot at the Gardas wall. On Millie’s second scoring pass, Jacked Pipes and Tara Skatesov teamed up to clear two green blockers out of the way, giving Millie an easy pass and a brief respite. When the dust had cleared, Millie had earned a narrow 41-38 lead for the Dagger Dolls.

The Dolls added 4 more points the hard way on the next jam, eking out a slight advantage on a heavily defensive jam. The Dagger Dolls wall led by Polly Punchkin and the Gardas wall led by Crust Almighty kept jammers Beach Slap and Freddy completely contained for the first minute and a half of the jam, reacting to offensive moves and quickly reforming. The dolls eventually managed to clear the initial pass and complete one scoring pass by passing the star to Polly, who scored 4 before time expired.

The Gardas took back the momentum on the last two jams of the half, first with Second Hand Smoke and then Ha’luci Jen racking up big power jam scores. Both jammers got solid offensive support from Tara Bichapart and Crust Almighty, respectively, to clear their way for multiple scoring passes. When the halftime whistle blew, the Garda Belts led 67-54

Second Half

The second half belonged to the Garda Belts, who continued the strong scoring momentum established before the halftime break all the way through the end of the game. Smoke and Luci again combined for a 1-2 jamming punch at the start of the half, scoring a combined 23 points over the first two jams. A few jams later, Beach Slap scored a momentous 30 points aided by great offensive blocking from Smoke and a Dolls line torn apart by penalties. With 11 minutes left in the game, the Gardas led 129-62.

The game continued relatively even from there, with the Dolls’ best chance at a comeback coming with a 15-point jam from Jacked Pipes with 5 minutes left in the game to make the score 90-163 in favor of the Gardas. That was not enough to overcome the Gardas lead, however, and after a drawn-out final jam, the Gardas won their first game of the regular season 170-100.

Bout Highlights

First Half, Jam 4 – The difference between this year’s Jacked Pipes and last year’s is that after she hops through most of the pack, this year’s Jacked Pipes cam absorb that huge hit from Crust Almighty and stay upright.

First Half, Jam 10 – It’s Lola Frequency’s first bout with MNRG, skating with the Dagger Dolls! Beach Slap gives her a warm welcome to the league in the form of a shoulder-check to the ground.

First Half, Jam 12 – Second Hand Smoke holds up to a 1-2 punch from Hanna Belle Lector and Kung POW Bitchin’, both of whom launch massive swinging hits against the unflappable Gardas jammer.

Second Half, Jam 12 – Tara Bichapart gets knocked to the infield by Ruth Banger Ginsburg right at the opening whistle, then drawn skillfully backwards by Kattoo. Tara gets the last laugh, however, smashing her way through the two of them for lead jammer.