Natasha Hampshire produced a superb display as Loughborough Lightning claimed a hard-fought 43-28 win over Mavericks.
Hampshire stars in battling win for Lightning
A superb, controlled centre court performance from 19 year old Natasha Hampshire was the highlight of a disjointed match in the Co-operative Netball Superleague this evening (Monday), which ended with her side Loughborough Lightning taking a hard-fought win over Mavericks 43-28.
The win moves Loughborough into second place in the league, while Mavericks join Brunel in third place - the two London sides meet in a crunch game on Friday.
Hampshire had another superb game at WA for Loughborough, combining well with former England captain Olivia Murphy in attack, and tipping several balls in defence in the midcourt.
Driving repeatedly to the edge of the circle, Hampshire found her shooters with some pinpoint passing, and was constantly offering as Loughborough withstood a gritty challenge from the determined Mavericks team.
Both sides started slowly, with a number of unforced errors slowing the scoring rate. Lauren Doyle, starting at GA for Loughborough alongside veteran Astle, was in superb shooting form, netting several key goals to keep the visitors in front, 12-11 at the first interval.
Zonal defence
In the second period, Loughborough stretched their lead, using an impressive zonal defence to unsettle the Mavericks attack.
Hampshire gave her opponent, England U19 Paula Gant, a challenging time, frequently leaving Gant flatfooted as she drove towards her shooters. With Astle finding her range and Doyle netting several crucial goals, despite the close attentions of Mavericks and England's Naomi Siddall, the lead was 24-17 in Loughborough's favour at the half time break.
Both coaches amended their line ups for the third quarter, with Kara Luck replacing Verona Tomlin at GD for Loughborough. For Mavericks, Jenene Campbell came on at WD, to see if she could contain the irrepressible Hampshire, while Muller moved to GS and Cadge joined the game at WA.
Mavericks scored the first goal of the period, through Wiseman, but failed to capitalise, and a long period of scrappy play ended with the honours for the quarter even at seven goals apiece.
Key interceptions and turnovers
Rose Port shuffled her team once again for the final quarter, replacing the out-of-sorts Astle (sporting a black eye as a result of some spirited challenges in last week's match against TeamBath) with Heather Clarke, and bringing Stephenson on at GA. Lindsay Press returned at GS for Mavericks, but she had lost her shooting rhythm, and Reid, at GK for Loughborough, was able to make several key interceptions and turnovers.
Meanwhile, Clarke was in superb form, shooting eight from 11 for the quarter, and combining well with Hampshire and Murphy to release Stephenson into space. The quarter ended 12-4 in Loughborough's favour, and coach Rose Port was thrilled with her side's 43-28 win.
"We knew today was going to be a tough game, and I'm very pleased with the way that the girls stepped it up when necessary, particularly when things got a little bit physical. Natasha Hampshire played really well and I'm also delighted with the way that Lauren took Naomi on, and converted her goals fantastically. Tonight we started to show what we can do, which is encouraging."
Catch all the action for yourself on Thursday evening, on
Sky Sports Extra at 5.00pm, when the game will be shown in its entirety, as well as highlights of the match between Team Northumbria and Celtic Dragons.
Starting line ups:
Mavericks: GS Press, GA Wiseman, WA Muller, C Jones, WD Gant, GD Siddall, GK McFarlane
Changes/substitutions: 3rd Q: Muller to GS, WA Cadge, WD Campbell 4th Q: Press to GS, WA H Nichols
Loughborough Lightning: GS Astle, GA Doyle, WA Hampshire, C Murphy, WD O'Neill, GD Tomlin, GK Reid
Changes/substitutions: 3rd Q: GD Luck, 4th Q: GS H Clarke, GA Stephenson, Tomlin to GD
Umpires: Beryl Lewis Turner and Tracey Smith
