Runners Up 2009
Saturday 4th April 2009
Coventry Sky Dome
Lost 46 - 54

Team Bath continued their winning season by beating Mavericks 54-46 in the Grand Final of the Cooperative Super League. Mavericks whose starting 7 of Louisa Brownfield, Ella Clark, Gemma Wiseman, Karen Atkinson, Stef Bello, Hazel Schofield & Nadia Hutchinson were unable to stop the South West region favorites fast pacy opening. Their tempo from the onset allowed them to gain a huge first quarter advantage 19 – 8. Mavericks were already on the back foot!

In the second quarter Mavericks were more settled and competitive. Natalie Seaton came on for Hazel Schofield at GD managed to counter the pace of Baths’ speedy, man of the match GA Pamela Cookey. Mavericks regained their composure somewhat to win the second quarter 12 goals to 10. The defensive duo of Hutchinson and Seaton managed to restrict the Bath shooting pair to only 10 attempts in the fifteen minutes. Louisa Brownfield stepped up and found her timing and rhythm and shot 9/10 to decrease the score difference to 9 by half time. Mavericks didn’t make any team adjustments going into the third quarter. Gaining a reputation as the ‘come back queens’ due to their fantastic come backs in their previous three games, culminating in last weeks semi-final against Loughborough, where they were 9-goals behind with 8 minutes to play but managed to steal a win. Mavericks work ethic was excellent. Did they have the mental capacity to tough it out?

And tough it out they did! Going into the last quarter still adrift, with Brownfield and Clark changing roles and the dynamic play of Atkinson, Mavericks out scored Bath 12 -8 at one stage to bring themselves to within 5 of the Bath team. Unfortunately for Mavericks they couldn’t process their turnovers into goals, and errors at crucial times allowed Bath to stretch their lead. Scoring quick goals they soon saw off the Mavericks final frantic challenge and finished as Champions 54 -46. Credit must be given to Team Bath who have remained undefeated all season and therefore deserve to be crowned Champions. Mavericks are to be commended for reaching their 4 th consecutive final, but Bath were, in the end, worthy winners.

Head Coach of Mavericks, Kendra Slawinski at the end of the game praised Bath for the way they blasted into the lead at the start of the game. ‘Mavericks could have been on the wrong side of a huge score after the first quarter’, she continued, ‘I am proud of the way the team responded, and I was still convinced we could pull it off
towards the end of the 4 th quarter!
Alas Bath held strong to win.’