Mavericks	51	v	49	Team Bath
Hertfordshire Mavericks travelled to Bath wanting to make it a third win in a row, to enable them to edge closer to one of the top four places.   With an excited crowd the teams were introduced and the game started with a Mavericks turnover and then a missed shot, Bath took their first opportunity to take the lead, but Mavericks quickly replied and with only 50 seconds gone Bath were ahead again 2-1.  The quarter saw the lead change hands several times with neither team able to stamp their authority.  The tenacious mid court of Sasha Corbin, Rose Morgan-Smith and Camilla Buchanan caused Team Bath errors but Mavericks were unable to capitalise on these and neither team went ahead by more than two goals throughout the quarter.   The final play of the quarter saw Mavericks take their centre pass to the shooting circle and with only seconds left to go, GA Alice Ewer got a penalty shot that was successful and brought the score to a level 13-13.   The second quarter saw Naida Hutchinson replace Josie Huckle in the Mavericks defence.   Although possession was constantly changing and not every turnover resulted in a goal by either side, Mavericks went ahead 18-14, but Bath re-grouped and drew level to take the score to 21-21.  Both teams then traded goals and with Alice Ewer showing confidence and maturity supporting both mid court and circle play, taking the score at half time to 25-25   A positional change at the start of the third quarter saw Mavericks move Naida to GK and Lyndsay Keable to GD.  The game’s intensity continued, no ball was dead and this lead to several players hitting the floor and following an injury time out, Lyndsay and Naida reverted back to their original positions of GK and GD respectively.  The quarter progressed with both teams taking shooting opportunities.   Alice was still converting long range shots under pressure while Vicklyn Joseph supporting well by retrieving hard to reach passes and scoring to keep Mavericks in touch as the quarter ended 38-35 in favour of Bath.   Coach Karen Atkinson made one further change for the fourth quarter which saw Rose Morgan-Smith move from C to WA and Sasha Corbin from WA to C.   This change soon reaped its rewards as Mavericks eventually drew level, the goals then went with centre passes until Mavericks were able to capitalise with a turnover to take a 50-48 lead going into the last minute.   The noisy crowd were on their feet as Bath pushed forward and scored to bring them within one goal 50-49, but Mavericks with bench players screaming their support were able to keep possession and convert the final play of the game to record a tremendous 51-49 victory.   A fantastic match, a wonderful advert for netball, and great that it was captured Live on SKY TV thus enabling netball fans across the country to enjoy it.  Also congratulations to Alice Ewer who was named a Player of the Match.      A great result for Mavericks, one that will hopefully see them secure a place in the top four of Phase 1 with only one more match to take place on Monday 5 March against Northern Thunder.     Match Scores Score Breakdown   Mavericks TeamBath Mavericks TeamBath Q1  13 13     Q2 25 25 12  12 Q3 35 38 10  13 Q4 51 49 16  11      Team Sheet Pos Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 GS Vicklyn Joseph  Vicklyn Joseph  Vicklyn Joseph Vicklyn Joseph GA Alice Ewer Alice Ewer  Alice Ewer  Alice Ewer  WA  Sasha Corbin Sasha Corbin  Sasha Corbin  Rose Morgan-Smith C  Rose Morgan-Smith  Rose Morgan-Smith Rose Morgan-Smith Sasha Corbin  WD  Camilla Buchanan  Camilla Buchanan Camilla Buchanan Camilla Buchanan GD Lyndsay Keable  Lyndsay Keable   Naida Hutchinson Naida Hutchinson GK Josie Huckle Naida Hutchinson Lyndsay Keable Lyndsay Keable      Bench: - Shaunagh Craig, Steffi Burt, Tallisa Haynes, Mikki Austin & Naida Hutchinson      Match Photos

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