North Central Regionals, Day 2: Dairyland to face Cincinnati in Third Place Bout

(photo credit: Marc Lebryk)

After defeating second-seed Detroit on Friday, the Minnesota RollerGirls scored their second upset of this weekend’s WFTDA North Central Regional tournament at the expense of the Dairyland Dolls. The Dolls broke out to an early 50-15 lead behind trademark power jams from Darling Nikki and Jewels of DeNile, with a halftime lead in Madison's favor at 59-38. But the well ran dry in the second half as Minnesota's consistency wore down Madison, ultimately defeating them 119-107. The pre-bout buzz concerned the DDs facing off against former teammate Juke Boxx. The Madison defense handled Juke’s threat as a jammer; however, it was her work on the Minnesota defensive effort that stood out this afternoon. Juke sat-blocked Lil Miss Behavin’ at the rear of the pack while Minnesota jammer Scarmen Hellectra scored 17 points to give her team its first lead since early in the bout, 73-66. They continued their solid pack play and built up an 89-67 lead with 13 minutes to go in the game. The Dolls tried to strike back, grabbing a 93-91 lead with eight minutes remaining. Minnesota’s defense and Madison's penalty woes grew the deficit again to 93-119. A final charge led by Mouse and Vicious van GoGo fell just short for a 107-119 final score. Minnesota entered the tournament as the seventh seed, making this bout the Cinderella story of the tournament. Dairyland will attempt to write their own sequel tomorrow, when they face fourth-seed Cincinnati for a chance to go to the WFTDA Championships in November.