So far this season Lightning have gone through the round securing a win followed by a loss and then a win. Entering round seven with the momentum of a shock result over unbeaten Manchester Thunder last week, the new-found confidence instilled in the side carried them right through to the final whistle at Surrey Sports Park.
The match which was also broadcast live on Sky kickstarted with a Storm centre pass from which they quickly converted and opened up the scoring. A powerful pass from Joseph into Lightning’s circle went off court and Storm were quickly 2-0 up. Hardly phased by this fast opening from the home side, Lightning pushed on and after a tip from Panagarry on Storm’s centre pass, the two sides were soon level on points. The rest of the quarter continued with each side eagerly fighting for any opportunity to force error and put a stop to their opponent’s attack. Lightning finished the opening quarter just a single point behind Storm.
End of Q1: Loughborough Lightning 12- 13 Surrey Storm
An unchanged Lightning side returned for the second quarter, ready for battle and ready to push on and put more points past Storm. Despite the added pressure of the Sky cameras watching their every move, Lightning kept their calm and proceeded to execute their game plan in style. In defence, Keenan and Oyesola put each contact call to the side and continued to apply pressure to shooting powerhouse Sigi Burger and delay the ball’s entry into the circle. Meanwhile Clark and Cholhok worked seamlessly together to open up space, keep the defence away from any incoming balls and put as many shots through the net as possible.
Half-time: Loughborough Lightning 31 - 24 Surrey Storm
Despite a huge second quarter, Lightning knew they had no time nor opportunity to rest on their laurels and take their foot off the pedal. Despite their seven-point lead Lightning now faced an increasingly physical Storm side who were eager to pull themselves back on top after a floundering second quarter. Numerous contact calls allowed Lightning the opportunity to readjust their positioning and gain composure before increasing their lead by a whopping 18 points. Not only was this in credit to Lightning’s clinical performance but for their grit and determination to turn the ball at every opportunity.
End of Q3: Loughborough Lightning 53 - 35 Surrey Storm
With a huge fifteen minutes ahead of them, Lightning made changes to their line-up bringing Coleman on in place of Clark for the GA bib. The home side also made changes in a last-ditch attempt to close the gap and managed to take advantage of Lightning’s need to readjust to their new attacking set up. Not wanting her presence to cause error in Lightning’s lead, Coleman treated the crowds to her impressive long bombs whilst at the other end of the court, Panagarry’s dynamic feet moved swiftly across the court to stop any advantage in Storm’s centre passes. Having closed the gap in a final surge, Lightning made more changes with Lucy Parize switching into GA, Rosie Harris coming on at WD and captain Nat Panagarry moving into the centre position. The injection of fresh energy was all Lightning needed to drive the game home and secure another resounding win.
Full-time: Loughborough Lightning 66 - 50 Surrey Storm
Growing from strength to strength in her debut season, Ugandan shooter Mary Cholhok was names Player of the Match after a dominant display in the circle however it was the overall team effort that Head Coach Sara Bayman praised on the night;
“Our middle two quarters were very strong after a shaky start and a blip in the final quarter, so I think to come out with a sixteen-goal win is good and I was happy with the result. I think after last week we worked on making sure we were in control of the game, and controlling the error rate, it was positive to realise that those areas were in our control and we could easily make the changes needed in order to change the result.”
Captain Nat Panagarry shared how important it was to change the pattern of results;
“We definitely wanted back to back wins and I think you can tell from our recent games that we are building and we are improving as each week goes on, we’re a new squad and we are growing and I think we showed some good areas during the match but we still need to go back and look at the game as a whole and work on those errors for next week.”
Next week Lightning return home to face new side London Pulse in their first ever Superleague match up. Panagarry also shared the threats that the new side bring;
“They’re building as well, they’ve got some great players such as Ama Agbeze so we’ll be looking at their game, looking at videos and then using that knowledge to work on our own game plan and come out fighting next week.”
Tickets for next week’s clash are on sale now and can be found at www.loughboroughlightning.com
Starting seven:
GS: Mary Cholhok
GA: Ella Clark
WA: Hannah Joseph
C: Jess Shaw
WD: Nat Panagarry ©
GD: Vicki Oyesola
GK: Tuaine Keenan
Replacements: Caroline Tarnowski, Rosie Harris, Britt Coleman, Annabel Roddy and Lucy Parize