Loughborough Lightning Development v Leeds Met Carnegie Development 2nd December 2006

The 2nd December saw the first outing of the Loughborough Lightning Development Squad.

The first game for this new squad was against a strong and physical Leeds Met Carnegie team. Lightning Development made a strong start, with good speed down the court and accurate feeds in to the circle allowing the Loughborough Shooter to covert the opportunities a strong defence in the circle meant that Leeds were limited with the amont of shots they had Lightning finished the first quarter 10-6 ahead.

The second quarter saw Leeds make some changes and the Leeds team came out fighting and made it difficult for Lighting Development to move the ball down court and find the shooters. A new defencive combination was bought on for Lightning Development which proved to be very strong and limited the shooting chances in the Leeds Met shooting circle. Leeds finished the quarter strongly but Lightning were still ahead 16-14 (6-8).

The third quarter Lightning development made some changes, it took the team a while to settle and find the Rhythm they had in the previous quarters. The centre court found it hard to find the shooters due to the pressure that the Leeds Met defence were applying. Leeds shooters got in to a grove and were not missing many shots. Leeds kept their cools and won the quarter and moved ahead by 1 goal. 19 - 20 (6 -3)

The final quarter Lightning Development went back on court strong and fought hard to recover the lead, unforced errors and simple mistakes enable Leeds to keep the lead and win the Game 24 -22.

Squad: Rachel Whitmore Capt, Hannah Perrett Vice - Capt, Nina Warren, Leah Connolly, Joy Davies, Sophie Holdstock, Emma Thurston, Kaylea McQuade, Nia Campbell-Watson, Kay Sparkes, Sara Parkinson, Becky Gentle

Quarter Scores (Lightning Dev score first)

1st Quarter - 10 - 6

2nd Quarter - 6 - 8 (16 - 14)

3rd Quarter - 3 - 6 (19 - 20)

4th Quarter - 3 - 4 (22 - 24)

Shooting Stats:

Nina Warren - 18/30 60%

Hannah Perrett - 3/4 75%

Leah Connolly - 1/2 50%