After a cold and frosty few weeks it was a pleasure to see a capacity crowd and two teams chomping at the bit to step onto court. The cameras and spectators were not disappointed as this match proved to be a thrilling event to watch - the teams were only ever 6 goals apart and they worked relentlessly. The performance and result were not one that Mavericks will be proud of due to the number of mistakes but there were flashes of the brilliance... It seems our black and white girls need a little more time to warm-up after the cold spell.

The match was tight from the first whistle and Mavericks worked to find Vicklyn Joseph who was holding strong in the circle against Eboni Beckford-Chambers. Some feeds flew easily into the circle but the majority were hard fought and took a while to get to the post. The pressure through the middle of the court was immense. With the score only ever a couple of goals apart at any point. at the end of the first quarter Team Bath were up, leading 9 - 11.

There were no changes by either team going into the 2nd quarter and the battle resumed where it had ceased at the end of the 1st quarter. Gradually Mavericks centre Laurelle Brock found Jo Binns increasingly challenging to mark and get free from. Another two goal deficit for this quarter left Mavericks trailing 16 - 20 going into the break.

At half time Maggie Jackson changed Karen Atkinson to C and brought on Rose Morgan-Smith as WA. Hazel Schofield replaced Naida Hutchinson as GD. The passing throughout the whole game was inconsistent - sometimes being off balance or passing too close to the defence and someimes finding glorious spaces for players to run onto the ball. Camilla Buchanan continued to work on Sasha Corbin, learning how she moved and where she wanted to go. She started to close the options down and was able to cover her partner and see other opportunities to intercept.

Rose proved to be a breath of fresh air on court as she got free from Serena Guthrie and found the shooters in the circle with calm feeds. At the other end Hazel and Amanda reacted off each other and closed down the circle moves as the second half progressed. Unfortunately the rebounds fell to Pam Cookey but the surge from Mavericks stole back 2 goals to make the score 28 - 30.

With no changes by either side, it was an up and down, roller coaster of a final quarter. Both teams showed uncharacteristic errors which highlighted the intensity of the event. Both GK's kept their teams in the games with interceptions and rebounds. As the time ticked by, the pressure effected the teams as players seemed overly eager to pass on the run or release the ball too quickly and it was the controlled clear decision making that stood out as the most attractive and effective. Mavericks pulled the score line back to within 1 and then gave it away. The crowd were so involved that they started to call the better options to the teams! They were 'wooing' at shots, squeeling when interceptions changed possession and willing the home side to take the match away from Team Bath...

Mavericks know that they did not deserve to win the match but also understand that they were more than capable of taking the game and winning - it will be up to the next encounter with Team Bath to prove this!