Impressive debuts as Lightning win again

Loughborough Lightning 73 - 34 Celtic Dragons

Netball Centre, Loughborough University

The Christmas break clearly hadn’t dampened Lightning’s drive and enthusiasm as they took on a young Celtic Dragons team in the first NSL game of 2008. With Lightning riding high in the league and Dragons having had a tough season thus far this was an ideal opportunity to try different things and two young players, Jo Harten and Sarah Jane Sullivan, both played their first games in Lightning colours.

The addition of Harten, England’s young shooting sensation, to the Lightning line-up was expected and her opening performance didn’t disappoint a capacity crowd. O’Sullivan, an England U21 player, also seized her chance when she came on for the second half.

The crowd were surprised to see Harten on the Lightning bench for the first quarter but the way James (GS) and Stephenson (GA) started made the crowd wonder when, or if, Harten may get on. Lightning’s team play was crisp and sharp, movement was good and the ball was finding its way in to Lightning’s attack with ease. Once in the circle James and Stephenson were on song shooting at 88% for the quarter and racking up 21 goals. Defensively Kara Luck was having another strong game and Sarah Penny took full advantage of her chance to get court time by dominating the Dragons GS.

The second quarter saw Stephenson leave the court to give Harten her first run out for Lightning. Almost immediately she started to link well with James and both players were giving the Dragons defence a torrid time. At the other end of the court Jade Clarke, in her first game since the World Champs, looked strong at WD and the court awareness of Lightning’s defensive trio allowed them to pick off a lot of Dragons ball outside the shooting circle. With Lightning’s mid-court controlling play it was one way traffic. Lightning didn’t miss a single shot to net another 21 goals and finish the half 42-15 ahead.

The second half saw the debut of Sullivan at WA in place of Hampshire amongst a string of Lightning team changes. Tomlin entered the fray at GD, O’Neill replaced Clarke in mid-court but Lightning kept pouring on the pressure. Not surprisingly the

the fluency slipped a little moving forwards and occasionally the ball went astray as new combinations struggled to find each other. However Lightning coach Rosie Port must have been happy to see her team put away another 17 goals without ever looking completely at ease with each other.

The final quarter saw Port rework her mid-court again with Clarke returning in place of Murphy at C and Stephenson coming back on at GA. At this point Lightning stuttered slightly in relation to their outstanding standard of play in the first half. Clarke and Sullivan didn’t immediately gel with Stephenson and Harten at GA and GS but Lightning were still the dominant team. The defence restricted Dragons to only 11 shots in the quarter and allowed Lightning to take the period 14-8 sealing an emphatic 73-34 win.

This was a strong team performance made all the more impressive by the use of so many different combinations and new players, The Lightning coaching team will have been delighted to see Jo Harten slot in to the attacking line-up with ease and shoot at 90% in her first game. Sullivan’s performance at WA also showed her potential for the future and the depth of Lightning talent. The win lifts Lightning closer to the top of the table as Northumbria dropped a point against Hurricanes.