Team Northumbria beat Leeds Carnegie 47-33 in the Co-operative Netball Superleague.
England number two Egan enjoys happy homecoming
Team Northumbria welcomed back coach Denise Egan, who spent the past two weeks as assistant coach to England at the Netball World Championships, with an impressive 47-33 win over Leeds Carnegie in the Co-operative Netball Superleague.
The win means that Team Northumbria retains its unbeaten record in this season's competition, and leaves the North East side clear at the top of the league table.
Once again, Northumbria's win was founded on significant contributions from its overseas players, with Kiwi GK Megan Hutton working hard to restrict Leeds' former international shooter Karen Greig to only 26 shots on goal for the entire game.
Meanwhile, Australian Elissa MacLeod was impressive in the Northumbria centre court, and combined well with Vicky Burgess to release another Aussie, Lara McLeod, into space in the shooting circle.
Egan kept faith with the line up that has served Northumbria well for the first few games of the season, starting with veteran Lisa Stanley alongside Lara McLeod in the shooting circle, and teaming Natalie Connor with Hutton in defence.
However, Leeds centre court of Taylor, Crolla and Gevelaar frequently left Northumbria flat-footed early on, and pulled away to a narrow 13-8 lead at the end of the first period.
Northumbria are made of stern stuff though, and dug deep for the second period, with Martin, Connor and Hutton picking off numerous attacking forays by the Leeds front line. Connor's pressure, in particular, started to pay off, restricting the feed in to Neville in the Leeds circle. Northumbria took the quarter 13-5, to lead by three at the half time interval.
Open
For the second half, England U19 captain Emma Lonsdale replaced Burgess in attack for Northumbria, but the change did not affect the north east side, which retained its formation and flow to keep driving the ball forwards.
Lonsdale's battle with England U21 Danni Bloomfield at WD was a fascinating one, with neither young player prepared to give an inch.
Northumbria edged the period 13-8, to open up an eight goal lead at three quarter time.
The final period was hotly contested by both teams, with both sets of shooters snapping up any chance of possession. Welsh international Jo Davies replaced Cat Parmiter at GK for Leeds, but there was little change in the flow of play from Northumbria.
Lonsdale and Elissa MacLeod continued to drive the ball forwards at pace for their shooters, who took full advantage. Final score 47-33 to Team Northumbria, and the perfect welcome home for coach Egan.
Leeds will be looking to get the campaign back on track against TeamBath, after a couple of hard fought losses, while Team Northumbria will want to retain their unbeaten record against Celtic Dragons next time out.
Starting line ups:
Leeds Carnegie: GS Greig, GA Neville, WA Taylor, C Crolla, WD Gevelaar, GD Cockerill, GK Parmiter Changes/substitutions: 3rd Q: WD Bloomfield, 4th Q: Bloomfield to C (replacing Crolla, inj), Gevelaar to WD
Team Northumbria: GS Stanley, GA McLeod, WA Burgess, C MacLeod, WD Martin, GD Connor, GK Hutton Changes/substitutions: 1st Q: Stanley to GA, McLeod to GS, 3rd Q: WA Lonsdale
Shooting statistics: Leeds Carnegie Greig 20/26, Neville 13/20, Team Northumbria McLeod 25/35, Stanley 22/28
Umpires: Kim Burns and Janice Treasure
