Lightning	34	v	65	Mavericks
This week saw Hertfordshire Mavericks travel the short distance to Loughborough following their marathons to Hull and Cardiff and register an impressive 65-34 victory.   Early Lightning pressure saw them score the first goal but Mavericks with constant pressure and control play against an eager home team managed to stamp their intentions early on and not to let too many unforced errors slip through.   Mavericks began to control the game with the defensive partnership of Lyndsay Keable and Josie Huckle allowing little movement for the Lightning attack.   Mavericks continued to dominate with Sasha Corbin, Rose Morgan-Smith and Camilla Buchanan feeding the shooting duo of Vicklyn Joseph and Alice Ewer with accurate regularity, allowing the score line to reach 8-2 with just 6 minutes gone.   An injury time out called by Loughborough, allowed them to re-group and for the remainder of the quarter the teams traded goals and the quarter ended 16-8.   There were no changes to either team going into the second quarter.  Mavericks were back on the attack following a great interception by Josie Huckle which led to an early turn over goal.  Continued mid court dominance by Mavericks saw them take a 23-11 lead half way through the quarter allowing them to extend their lead to 31-16 as the half time whistle sounded.   Changes for Mavericks at half time saw Mikki Austin debut at C, Naida Hutchinson at goal defence and Lyndsay Keable from GD to GK.  Early errors littered the start of this quarter but Mavericks were first to settle as they scored three unanswered goals.  With the constant high temp mid court now responding following the changes the goals flowed for Mavericks and any Lightning attack was met with a wall of resistance and by the end of the third quarter they had extended their lead to 49-20.   The fourth quarter saw coach Karen Atkinson make one final change replacing Vicklyn Joseph with Steffi Burt and Steffi was soon capitalising on the excellent feeds into the circle.   With the score standing at 57-27 and with the game well won there was still not drop in the intensity of play from both sides as the fans saw them trade goals right up to the final whistle.    With this superb 65-34 victory, coach Karen Atkinson, now hopes her team can build on this performance for their crucial mid table clash against Team Bath, which will aired live on SKY TV next Thursday evening 23 February.   Shooting Stats:  Vicklyn Joseph 35/42 – 83%; Alice Ewer 17/25 – 68%; Steffi Burt 13/15 – 87%                                 Overall Team 65/82 – 79%

The squad arrived at the Herts Sports Village at 4pm, ready and raring to go! After a motivation pre-match talk the squad was named and an intensive warm up began.  The starting squad consisted of GS Shaunagh Craig, GA Sophie Hankin, WA Eleanor Durcan, C Mikki Austin, WD Marina Mensah-Afoakwah, GD Megan Clark, GK Rianna Reid with further strength sitting on the bench.

Mavericks Youth started strong with the defenders proving their talent, continually forcing there opponents up the court with an outstanding defensive performance from Marina.  The attack proved successful in team spirit allowing our defenders to perform brilliantly due to the attacks second stage defence. This lead to a well deserved 12-8 lead in the first quarter.

The second quarter saw no changes made within the squad and players went on eager to perform once again. Sophie showed consistency in her shooting, which was supported by Shaunagh’s movement under tough defence from their opposition.  The entire team proved strong in both attack and defence throughout and pulled away winning the second quarter 14-9.

Changes at half time led to Claire Drakeford stepping on court at C after a 100% effort given from Mikki who unfortunately was unable to continue due to a persistent injury.  Along with this, Bobbi Simmonds stepped on at WA and Rov Allen at WD. However, despite a brilliant effort from all the girls, the third quarter took an unexpected turn, leaving spectators curious to what the final outcome would be.  West Midlands proved tough opposition and won the quarter 13-7.

As the 4^th quarter arose, a new seven started with Ellie and Marina returning to their original positions. After an intense play on court, Shaunagh declared a time out, leading to her and Sophie switching positions to attempt to pull the win out the bag and disrupt the opponent’s tactics. A nail biting continuous battle following, led to a draw between the teams being seen at 40-40 within the last minute.  However the entire squad proved to be a unit and every individual’s brutal performances allowed Mavericks to take the well deserved victory by one goal at 41-40. A fantastic team effort!

A special applaud goes to Marina for being awarded Player of the Match for her pure determination, grit and brilliant defensive play throughout and to Mikki who showed her desire to give her all despite a long term injury.  The shooting duo provided strong statistics with Shaunagh shooting 85% and Sophie 79%.

Well done to all the girls for taking the victory and providing a cliff hanging and exciting game for their bench and supporting fans!

Report by Jasmine Whitlock

Mavericks	54	v	42	Northumbria
It may have been -10 deg outside but inside the temperature was at boiling point following the high tempo NTL game which saw Mavericks Youth take all the points from W Midlands Warriors in the dying seconds with their 41-40 victory.   Another capacity crowd was treated to another mouth watering Fiat NSL game.   The opening quarter was taken by Mavericks 12-9, but these early stages were littered with unforced errors on both sides with both defensives showing strengths and the understanding of the young shooting duo of Steffi Burt and Alice Ewer developed well throughout the quarter.   An unchanged seven in the second quarter was soon put under pressure and with more unforced errors Northumbria pulled the deficit back to only one goal.  However, Sasha Corbin, Camilla Buchanan and Rose Morgan-Smith came into their own and steadied the mid court and at half time Mavericks held a 24-20 lead.   With the third quarter about to start the Mavericks team and the crowd were given the news that Naida Hutchinson was back on court almost two years since suffering her serious knee injury.  Naida lined up with Lyndsay Keable as she replaced Josie Huckle in defence, but it took some time for the new format to gel and Northumbria took every opportunity to draw level at 24 all.   As Mavericks regained their composure so the goals came and at three quarter time Mavericks had opened up a 38-30 lead.   The final quarter saw Lyndsay and Naida swap positions but the high temp of the game continued until late in the match when following an injury time out Rose was replaced by Camilla at C with Talissa Haynes joining the fray to make her Mavericks Superleague debut.        The game continued and the young Mavericks shooting duo continued to shine as the match ended with the home team taking the spoils 54-42.  So it was back out into the cold night air, the crowd having witnessed two Mavericks wins and Naida’s return.    So now it’s off to Loughborough on Saturday 18 February and Team Bath on Thursday 23 February before returning on 5 March for another sell out match against current league leaders Northern Thunder.

Mavericks	39	v	48	Dragons
Following last Friday night’s match in Hull, another long haul trip for Mavericks this week saw them cross the Severn into Wales for their clash with Celtic Dragons in Cardiff last night.           The first quarter was littered with mistakes and unforced errors by both teams, and Mavericks defence of Josie Huckle and Lyndsay Keable found it difficult to combat the feed into Lottysha Cato who scored regularly through the quarter.   Mavericks shooting circle of Vicklyn Joseph and Shaunagh Craig were given no room by the strong Dragons defence.   Frantic play through the quarter and further missed opportunities allowed Dragons to build a lead of 15-7 at the end of the quarter.    Coach Karen Atkinson made a team change to the attack and brought on Alice Ewer for Shaunagh Craig, this seemed to settle the attack.  Mavericks mid court of Sasha Corbin, Rose Morgan-Smith and Camilla Buchanan worked tirelessly throughout the quarter.   An impressive jump by Sasha caught the crowd’s attention as she grasped the ball while spinning in mid-air.   She was particularly alert during this quarter and set up several scoring opportunities for the Mavericks who took the second quarter 10-9, to reduce the deficit at half time to 24-17.   A further change to the shooting circle saw Steffi Burt replace Vicklyn at gaol shooter and the game was launched into its third quarter by a succession of swift passes by Mavericks, with no player letting any balls go without a fight.    Alice shot a great long-distance goal and followed it with another classy score to put the Dragons under pressure as Mavericks fought back to take the score to 24-20.  Mavericks were unable to sustain this pressure and Dragons were allowed to increase the goal difference again.  The see-saw style of the match continued as Mavericks pulled back to within six, only for Cato to again to dash their hopes with a late score to pull Dragons to 36-28 clear going into the final quarter.   The intensity of the game continued into the fourth quarter with both teams fighting for possession.   In a contact between Josie Huckle and Cato, Huckle called time after being hurled to the floor and colliding with the post.  The Mavericks defender showed her mental and physical resilience and she was soon up again and ready to re-enter the fray.   In the closing stages the Dragons maintained possession and Cato to score and move Dragons into a ten goal lead.  Although the match was now beyond reach, Mavericks refused to lie down and were relentless particularly during the final minutes as they rewarded with two well worked goals to finish the game on a high, and ending the game with a score line of 48-39.      After this tough encounter Mavericks will now need to look forward and concentrate on their next game at home against Team Northumbria on Friday 10 February at the Sports Village in Hatfield.

Look out for her at future matches - Come and say Hi and get your photograph taken with her!

We were focused and prepared for the challenge Team South would present as the starting seven took to the court: Steffi (GS), Sophie (GA), Ellie (WA), Mikki (C), Megan (WD), Rov (GD) and Rianna (GK).  A physical Team South  began strongly in the opening minutes, the score was close, but some tight defence forced turnovers, and quick attacking play from the mid court linked with the accurate shooters to see Mavericks Youth pull ahead to finish the first quarter leading 14-7.

After a strong start the seven stayed the same for the second quarter, with Megan and Rov swapping positions. The attack produced some excellent shooting and accurate feeding, capitalising on the turnovers made by defence, to stretch our lead to 29-15.

The third quarter saw almost an entirely new line up as the coaches demonstrated the depth in our squad; the seven to continue to disrupt South’s game were Steffi, Shaunagh, Holly, Frankie, Marina, Megan and Bea. This new seven continued the fantastic play from the first half, and after a dominant performance we left the court at the end of the quarter 44-19.

The same seven saw Mavericks Youth continue to dominate in the fourth quarter, strong attacking play led to some excellent play in the circle from the shooting duo, and defence continued to disrupt South’s attack, making turnovers to leave Mavericks Youth with a fantastic final score of 58-23. 

The squad and coaches were really pleased as we denied South any points and showed Mavericks’ fighting spirit.  A special well done goes to Frankie who played brilliantly on her debut for Mavericks Youth.

Shooting Stats: Sophie 73%, Shaunagh 86%, Steffi 96%, with a brilliant team average of 90%!

Report by Megan Clark

Athletes have been announced for the Netball Europe competitions in 2012.  Trials were held in Sheffield last weekend and the successful athletes will now represent England in the New Year.

The U17 squad will travel to Scotland for their tournament, the U21s and U19s will head over to Northern Ireland for their competition.  

Congratulations to the following Mavericks players:

U21's Stephanie Burt; U19's Shaunagh Craig; U17's Clare Drakeford and Megan Clarke

MAVERICKS VS STORM MATCH THURSDAY 19 JANUARY 2012

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