Brunel Hurricanes netted their second win of the season with a 64-30 victory over Celtic Dragons.
Brunel blow out the Dragons' fire
Brunel Hurricanes netted their second win of the season with a 64-30 victory over Celtic Dragons.
Australian Lara Welham was in superb form, netting 34 goals from 36 attempts, and providing a lynchpin for the Hurricanes' attacking formation.
Meanwhile, England U19 star Jade Forbes Wattley made her debut in the Co-operative Netball Superleague, following promising work for the Hurricanes youth side, and fitted in well with England star Naida Hutchinson in the Hurricanes' defensive unit in the second half, after an impressive first half hour from Sharon Smith at GK.
Welham was in sparkling shooting form from the first whistle, missing only one attempt on goal for the first half, and two in the entire game. Dragons' defensive partnership of Emily Rose and Lindsay Keable battled hard, but could not counter her pace and vision in partnership with the speedy Camilla Buchanan, and often found themselves on the back foot.
Hurricanes led 17-8 at the end of the first period, and with GK Sharon Smith taking several key interceptions in the second quarter, the score moved on to 30-17 in favour of the Hurricanes by half time.
Comfortable
Both coaches rang the changes for the second half, but it was Hurricanes who found their form more quickly. Vicklyn Joseph, now at GS, and GA Welham were simply sensational, missing only one shot between them for the period, and Buchanan and Nichols were tireless in centre court to keep the ball moving to their shooters.
For the Dragons, Munro and Ennis were relatively accurate, but simply did not have enough possession to trouble the Hurricanes score. The Londoners led 47-26 at three quarter time, and limited the visitors to only four goals for the final period, to take the points with a relatively simple 64-30 victory.
Hurricanes will travel to Northern Thunder's home court in Liverpool next Saturday and will be looking to maintain their excellent form in this fixture. Coach Denise Holland was particularly pleased with her side's through court defence, which netted several key interceptions, and also with the consistency of the attacking play, despite several changes in combinations.
Catch up with all this week's action on
Sky Sports 3 on Thursday at 6pm - in addition to the Loughborough/TeamBath match, there will be highlights of the weekend's other games.
Starting line ups:
Brunel Hurricanes: GS Welham, GA Buchanan, WA Francis, C K Nichols, WD Bello, GD Hutchinson, GK Smith
Changes/substitutions: 3rd Q: GS Joseph, Welham to GA, Buchanan to WA, GK Forbes Wattley, 4th Q: Francis to C
Celtic Dragons: GS Underwood, GA Munro, WA A Modeste, C Essex, WD Bliss, GD Rose, GK Keable
Changes/substitutions: GK R Modeste, 3rd Q: Munro to GS, GA Carlie Ennis, WD Poynter, Bliss to GD, 4th Q: Underwood to GS (injured, rep by Munro), C Diane
Umpires: Gary Burgess and Debbie Morgan
