Thursday 2 April 2015 20:34, UK
Hertfordshire Mavericks cemented their place in the Netball Superleague semi-finals with a 58-40 win over Team Northumbria on Thursday night.
Mavericks made multiple changes to the starting seven that beat Team Bath in front of the Sky cameras on Monday night.
Coach Sam Bird told Sky Netball she was keen to give shooting prospect Sophie Hankin more court time, but the 21-year-old failed to get into the game into quarter one and her partnership with the experienced Louisa Watson never materialised.
The visitors were not playing with their usual tidy court craft and were sloppy carrying the ball through while also shooting with low accuracy.
Meanwhile, bottom of the league Northumbria were composed. Northern Ireland international Fionnuala Toner was impressive at Wing Defence, silencing England Wing Attack Sasha Corbin in the opening exchanges. The home side took a narrow advantage into the first break 10-9.
Hankin was taken off for the second quarter with Watson moving out to Goal Attack and Sarah East brought in at shooter.
Northumbria kept the pressure on though and Mavericks frustration was visible across the court as they struggled to find the connection between defence and attack. Mavericks back three were its usual diminutive force and after letting Northumbria out to a four goal lead, they pulled it back level, eventually going into the half-time break with a one-goal advantage 21-20.
Change
At half-time, Sophia Candappa entered the game at Centre for Mavericks and made an instant impact, calming the frantic attack. This allowed Sarah East more movement in and around the circle and Mavericks went on a seven goal streak without reply before Northumbria called a time-out.
Lisa Bowman came on at shooter for Northumbria but failed to have the required impact they required. Candappa and Corbin were combining well on the circle edge and provided the structure that been missing in the first half for Mavs. The momentum was fully with Hertfordshire at this point and at the end of the third quarter they had run away with a 41-28 lead.
Both teams experimented with different combinations in the final 15 minutes and Team Northumbria played with a renewed fluency. But despite this they were unable to stop the rot. Sarah East found a mechanical shooting accuracy and Mavericks secured their semi-final berth with a final score of 40-58.
Manchester Thunder, Surrey Storm and Mavericks have now secured their semi-final spots.
Watch Yorkshire Jets v Celtic Dragons live on Sky Sports 2 from 7.30pm on Monday April 6.
