Hurricanes Blown Away

Friday 29th February 2008
Won 48 - 25

A full capacity crowd nearing 600 and many more turned away knew that this match was probably about who was going into the play offs - Brunel had to win every match and Mavericks were wanting to put this question mark to bed and focus on preparing the team for future matches.

Coming off the Loughborough game where Mavericks knew they were under par in all areas of the court had plenty to think about and from looking at them at the warm up it was clear that this was going to be a business approach.

From the first whistle Mavericks showed a greater intensity then seen before this season; Brunel has always been a tough derby and it was important that Mavericks kept the width and kept the ball moving quickly.

Options through the court were varied and Elsely and Newton were given the space to drive through the court with Jones and Atkinson moving together the circle edge feeds were able to give Brownfield and Hall the shooting opportunities. Brunel’s shooter was always a threat and the tight Mavericks team defence were preventing the centre court from giving her clear feeds; the new circle partnership of Siddall and Newton is beginning to gel and the turnovers by both of them was giving mavericks the possession they required to go ahead.

Mavericks chose for the first time this season to keep a settled 7; it was important to see how some of the players coped with this; Brunel changed their centre court but this did not stop mavericks and the tight defensive play throughout the court prevented Brunel from settling and a 48-25 win has enabled Mavericks to qualify for the play offs.

Teamwork and ensuring that the Mavericks 12 are ready for the next set of matches will be the focus of the coaching team as they travel to Northumbria on Monday March 10th for the final match of the league and then onto the playoffs in Sheffield on the 17th March.