Mahaska Mayhem Defeat CRRG Bombshell Cartel

For Mahaska Mayhem Jammer/Blocker Anita Spankins, the clinching moment of her teams first ever victory inside the oval was a sweet moment to savor.

"It was just pure excitement," she said. "We were finally going to win. We were finally going to get that money off our back. It was just pure awesomeness."

In this, their fifth bout in the young history of the team, the Mahaska Mayhwm defeated the Cedar Rapids Rollergirls Bombshell Cartel 113-61 before a home crowd Saturday night at the Spinnin' Wheels Skate Center in Oskaloosa.

While Anita Spankins said the Mahaska Mayhem was plagued by penalties, mainly following through on elbows, and cutting the track among other things, she said that this game marked the pivotal moment where the team took the focus and confidence of a practice and applied it to the game.

"We took the game that we play where we are confident and sure of ourselves and took it to the track," Anita Spankins said. "All of us have stopped living in the frenzy of the moment and started focusing on the mechanics of the game."

Both Anita Spankins and Malicious B, pivot/blocker for the CRRG: Helldorados, who as assisting the Bombshell Cartel tonight, cited the jam just before the close of the first time, a 20-plus affair by Mahaska Mayhem jammer B.A.B. as the turning point of the match. During that sequence, which was a power jam, Anita Spankins said that with two Mahaska blockers on the bench, blocker Kandis Hit took out three Bombshell Cartel blockers, who were attempting for form a wall.

Malicious B said that the Bombshell Cartel, of which she skated on, fielded a team in which roughly half were in their first bout. Malicious B. said that throughout the game the newer girls had an excellent sense of teamwork, but ran into trouble because they lacked communication on the oval.

While the Bombshell Cartel did not carry the bout, Malicious B. noted that a couple of the new girls had breakout nights. "In the second half Lil' Bit Lotta Hitz. started doing crazy footwork out of nowhere," Malicious B. said. "She was making it through the pack with little to no assistance from us. She really broke out of her shell."

On the blocking side of the equation, Malicious B. was particularly impressed with the efforts of Knuxe D.Luxe, whom she said had a great sense of what was going on in the pack but also delivered good hits.

Malicious B. said that the Bombshell Cartel needs to work on team cohesiveness and communicating with each other to make sure that everyone is on the same page. On the Mahaska side, Anita Spankins indicated that Mahaska's penalty problems would have to be dealt with.

We have to take the good out of it and the bad," Anita Spankins said. "We also have to go back to drawing board to stay out of the penalty box because that is what kills us every time."