Loughborough Lightning also won on a busy day of Superleague Vitality Netball; broadcast of the tournament continues Sunday with three games back to back, live on Sky Sports YouTube channel from 2pm
With Josh Gorton and Emma Thurston
Last Updated: 13/03/21 8:06 pm
Wasps Netball was made up of Manchester Thunder (Image Credit – Ben Lumley)
Wasps netball criticized the Manchester Thunder for making the case back, and the Netball Bath Team remain unbeaten on a busy day of Vitality Netball Superleague in Wakefield.
Loughborough Lightning also won and Sara Bayman’s outfit is still at the top of the Superleague table after 27 matches.
The competition continues on Sunday with three more competitions being broadcast on Sky Sports’ YouTube channel from 2pm.
Strathclyde Sirens and Saracens Mavericks begin proceedings before Lightning and Wasps return to court, to promote the London Pulse and Leeds Rhinos netball.
Wasps punish Thunder’s mistakes
With Wasps off the back of a two-week break and Thunder for kicking back from a horrific 25-goal loss to Team Bath on Friday, the platform was set for a crack.
In the opening quarter, Mel Mansfield’s side showed no signs of rust and all the Thunder played across their faces looked resolute.
The first quarter came intense for a goal, and the Wasps needed the final seconds to create a small 11-9 run. The second one started out as a carbon copy of the first, before the Wasps court pressure forced Thunder to make mistakes and then manpower changes.
At 20-13 down, Karen Greig decided to bring in Caroline O’Hanlon at WA and moved Laura Malcolm to WD. Malcolm gave his presence a feel but Wasps remained calm, and went into the interval at the helm at 24-17 upwards.
Quarter-quarter scores
| Thunder Manchester | Wasps netball | |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter One | 9 | 11 |
| Quarter Two | 8 | 13 |
| Quarter Three | 13 | 13 |
| Quarter Four | 14 | 16 |
| Final Score | 44 | 53 |
With words from Karen Greig and Tracey Neville ringing in their ears, Thunder showed off their grit in the third quarter. They matched Wasps again and after enjoying the final stages, the tournament was finished at 37-30 with 12 minutes to play.
Again, Wasps stayed cool against pressure. Mansfield’s attire was simple; they focused on turning their own center passes into a goal and put the onus on Thunder to try to do something special.
Sophia Candappa was led by example in attack and although Thunder kept their own fluency, with young Berri Neil showing off her credentials off the bench, they had left too much to do.
Vitality Netball Superleague – Round Five and Six
| Friday at 5pm | Severn Stars 49-46 Storm Surrey |
|---|---|
| Friday at 6.45pm | Bath Team Netball 60-35 Manchester Thunder |
| Saturday at 2pm | Surrey 37-56 lightning storm Loughborough |
| Saturday at 4pm | Bath Net Team 49-30 Severn Stars |
| Saturday at 6pm | Manchester Net 44-53 Wasps netball |
| Sunday at 2pm | Strathclyde Sirens vs Saracens Mavericks |
| Sunday at 4pm | Loughborough Lightning vs London Pulse |
| Sunday at 6pm | Wasps Netball vs Leeds Rhinos Netball |
| Monday at 5pm | London Pulse vs Celtic Dragons |
| Monday at 6.45pm | Leeds Rhinos Netball vs Strathclyde Valley |
Storm overflows with lightning
Loughborough Lightning held on to the top spot in the Vitality Netball Superleague with a convincing 56-37 victory over Storm Surrey.
Storm head coach Mikki Austin blocked the changes after a 49-46 loss to Severn Stars, but for the second day in a row they were penalized for a slow start, as Loughborough established a 32-20 lead at in the meantime.
Lightning managed to attack Storm’s offensive line largely with full court defense, with the strong trio of Alice Harvey, Sam May and Beth Cobden appearing for Sara Bayman’s side.
Game player Hannah Joseph led proceedings for Lightning and Mary Cholhok continued her season, scoring 34 goals before leaving after the third quarter.
A storm was able to stop the end of Lightning’s attack as the competition progressed – with Felisitus Kwangwa putting out an impressive individual display – but Loughborough was professional throughout to make five wins from six games.
Bath team hustle to hit infectious stars
In the second event of the day, Team Bath worked their way through a different performance to a 49-30 victory over Severn Stars.
After an impressive 25-goal result against the Thunder on Friday, Anna Stembridge decided to mix her line-up and hand start firing Betsy Creak, Jess Shaw and Tash Pavelin and as an attacker, they struggle to reconcile.
Lucy Herdman and Iman Thomas stressed Creak in the ring, but mistakes also squandered Stars ’work. The result was a low starter, with just five goals scored in the opening seven minutes and Bath leading 10-4 at the first stop.
Quarter-quarter scores
| Bath Team Netball | Severn stars | |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter One | 10 | 4 |
| Quarter Two | 14 | 6 |
| Quarter Three | 12 | 8 |
| Quarter Four | 13 | 12 |
| Final Score | 49 | 30 |
Stembridge introduced Kim Borger for the second quarter and gave her a much-needed Bath awakening. Stars continued to move hard though, but again Bath finished strong to push 24-10 ahead at half-time.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first, with Bath fighting to get their rhythm and Stars working non-stop until the final whistle, something their head coach really enjoyed.
“We brought that game to them and we gave a lot of that to Bath. We played this weekend and we played today,” Bessell said at full time.
“It was about making sure we had a good performance, that was a great achievement from my team today and I’m so proud of what they did. We definitely took it to Bath.”
Sky Sports is your home of online football. The Vitality Netball Superleague continues Sunday with three games back, streamed live on Sky Sports ’YouTube channel from 2pm.