SPORTSERVE ATTEND NETBALL FINAL
Sportserve were proud to mark the court for our first experience of top flight netabll.
From the start, it was clear that this would be a fast and furious encounter between two teams with play off places in sight. Both teams were guilty of forcing the long ball in to their shooters early on, but it was the home side which settled first, in front of the capacity crowd, and with England vice captain Karen Atkinson, recovered from last week's dead leg muscle, tireless in both attack and defence and Brownfield scoring 6/7 for the quarter, the home team pulled away to the slenderest of leads, 9/8 at quarter time.
At the start of the second quarter, Loughborough coach Rose Port moved England's Jade Clarke back to WD and introduced Charlotte O'Neill at C. The teams traded goals early on, before O'Neill's pace, in combination with Olivia Murphy at WA, started to open up the space, enabling the visitors to drive the ball to the circle edge more effectively. Loughborough's towering GS Alex Astle started to find her range, scoring 12/14 for the quarter, and despite the best efforts of GK Janet Coulburne and GD Amanda Newton, Mavericks could not stop the visitors' momentum. Half time score, Mavericks 19, Loughborough 21.
Mavericks head coach Maggie Jackson switched Brownfield to GA and Harten to GS at the start of the third quarter, and the change had an immediate effect, with Brownfield using her vision and pace to set up numerous rotational moves with Harten. Mavericks started to drive the ball to the post more effectively, thanks to some pinpoint feeding from Atkinson and Jones, and with the defence now creating turnovers seemingly at will, Mavericks took the period 14-3 to lead 33-24 at the final interval.
For the final period, Port switched her line up once again, moving Agbeze out to GD to counteract Brownfield's flair, and introducing Welsh shooter Becky James at GA and former England U21 Sarah Penny at GK. Every ball was challenged, every pass needing to be pinpoint accurate to prevent the interception being made. In a thrilling 15 minutes of play, Loughborough closed the gap to six goals, but could not maintain their momentum, and with Brownfield slotting two long bombs within the final two minutes, the visitors' revival came too late. Final score: Mavericks 40, Loughborough Lightning 33, and with only two rounds of fixtures remaining, the final league table positions are still up for grabs.
Article courtesy of England Netball