Green stars as Panthers continue their upturn in fortunes

The travelling Panthers’ confident approach to their Clan Two match last weekend faced a few knocks from hard memories of past clashes and a recent turnaround in results from the rival side, but the Guernsey girls achieved the task at hand.

Jemma Green’s performance in the goalshooter position earned her the player of the match nomination and Abbie Greening was effective in goal-attack during the score-heavy encounter.

Panthers’ defence also shone through and it was only after a breakthrough second-half that they gained the critical up on their persistent opponents.

They were losing 28-24 at half-time and the road forward was looking shaky, however well their last three games have carried them and contrary to what Clan’s lower standing would suggest.

But a lively third quarter brought the scoreline to 43-41 in Panthers’ favour with 15 minutes remaining and the Sarnians consolidated this in a similarly energetic closing quarter to seal another key victory, 61-53.

Panthers captain Copperwaite was never perturbed by the half-time deficit and credited her side’s performance across the court in the tactical match, although she kept special praise for player-of-the-match Green.

‘It went really well,’ said Copperwaite.

‘Our attacking was definitely much better than they were – they have a very tall shooter so we just rotated our defence to counteract that and as the game went on, their defence went and that kind of pulled it back.

‘Jemma was outstanding, she was really dominant in the circle and the other team were not quite sure what to do with her.’

Many of their core league rivals also performed well over the weekend and Panthers’ rescheduled home clash against Woodley this coming Sunday may now prove critical.

The remainder of the league are now out of action until after Christmas and a win would advance the Panthers to third at worst as play returns in January.