Loughborough Lightning further cemented their top two position in The Co-operative Netball Superleague with a convincing 32-58 Valentines Day away win over Scottish side Glasgow Wildcats.
The Wildcats came into the game brimming with confidence following their first ever league victory a week earlier against Brunel. But Lightning took no chances in their preparation, flying in on Friday night to ensure the rigours of travel were not felt on match day.
The first quarter started as expected with both teams trading turnovers, and scoring goal for goal. Shooters Lesley Macdonald and Jo Harten stood out for their respective teams, leading to a 7-7 stalemate ten minutes into the quarter.
Lightning, inspired by the impressive work rate of goal defence Kara Luck, took hold of the quarter and scored seven unanswered goals in the last five minutes to forge a first quarter lead of 14-7.
In response Wildcats changed their shooting circle at the break; Macdonald swapping with Rachel Holmes at goal attack. This served only to spur on the Loughborough defence as goal keeper Hannah Reid and defender Luck held firm so the home side struggled to get the ball into the circle.
At the other end the Lightning attack created numerous opportunities and began to move the ball around with great speed. The team’s best quarter of the match stretched the lead to 32-15 by half time.
Another Wildcat change during the break saw Macdonald return to shooter and Nicola Collins come on at goal attack. Lightning made their own changes in the circle as Katy Rose replaced Alex Kirk at goal attack – Kirk having provided 10 of Loughborough’s goals with a 71% success rate.
The changes led to a settling in period for both teams, as turnovers were followed by scrappy play to goal. Again the team’s played goal for goal for the first half of the quarter but Lighting took advantage of persistent defensive pressure from Natasha Hampshire at wing attack and extended their lead further to 44-23.
In the final quarter Lightning made the most of their lead and introduced a further two substitutions to get more players off the bench. The excellent Luck was replaced by Emma Bliss at goal defence and Sarah Jane O’Sullivan came on for Hampshire at wing attack.
Again Lightning increased the speed of the ball through the court with O’Sullivan and Rose combining neatly around the circle, allowing the prolific Harten to take her opportunities at goal over the 50 mark. An extra 14 goals by the final whistle boosted the final score to 58-32 to the visitors, making the 600 mile round trip very worthwhile.
Player-coach Olivia Murphy was very pleased with the defensive effort of the team across the court, and excited by the creativity shown by her young attacking line.
Lightning now have a two week break before facing sixth-place Team Northumbria at Loughborough University’s Sir David Wallace Sports Hall on Monday 2 March. For tickets and more information log onto www.loughboroughlightning.co.uk
Quarter scores:
Q1: 7-14, Q2: 8-18, Q3: 8-12, Q4: 9-14
Progressive scores:
7-14, 15-32, 23-44, 32-58
Shooting stats:
Jo Harten: 41/52, 79%
Alex Kirk: 10/14, 71%
Katy Rose: 7/16, 43%
