by The Ghostwriter

When the game clock expired, the women of the PrissKilla Prezleys were tickled pink. The last-place team had eeked out their first victory of the inaugural Memphis Roller Derby season, winning a hard-fought bout against the Women of Mass Destruction. The skaters in pink jerseys, who have been plagued by injuries and team turmoil, won 100-95 in the July 7th bout at the Collierville Funquest.

"We got unified. We wanted to win this game," said Lyn-da-licious, the PKP blocker who is also serving as interim coach with the recent departure of Marky de Quad. "We played together, and we pulled together. I'm proud of every single girl on this team."

The win didn't come easy.

The WMDs jumped out to a 17-3 advantage early in the first period, and held the lead for most of the first two periods behind strong jamming by Akilles Wheel and the Ragin' Caucasian. The women in green held a 6-point edge at the end of the second period, 60-54, and doubled that lead in the first five minutes of the third and final period.

But the physicality of the bout started to take its toll. Former PKP Bloody Elle, now a bruiser for the WMDs, was ejected for fouls seven minutes into the period. Her teammate, blocker Kinky Kinevil, joined her off the rink just two minutes later.

The PrissKillas' jammers took advantage of the ejections. Chica Bandita and Dirty Constance of the PKPs raced to get lead jammer status play after play, and strategically called off the jams before the WMD jammers could score. With 6:23 left, the PKPs knotted the score at 84. They then finished on a 16-11 run to win.

Dirty Constance said later the PKPs had played "like it was our last game, because it would have been if we had lost," acknowledging the team's recent struggles. She credited new trainer Madmartigan for getting the team prepared. "I just wanted to win really bad. ... That's all I wanted," said Dirty Constance. "It was blood, sweat, and tears for sure."

With the win, the PrissKilla Prezleys improved to 1-4, while the Women of Mass Destruction dropped to 2-3. Before the bout, the WMDs had been tied for second place with the Legion of Zoom, but fell a half-game back to third place, at least for another few weeks, with the defeat.

The Z-Girls will have a daunting task on July 28th when they take on the undefeated Angels of Death. For the PKPs, their next bout is against the Legion of Zoom in the August 18 doubleheader, and Lyn-da-licious is making a prediction. "We're going to win the next one," she said.