Lightning strikes twice

The newly-branded outfit snatched a narrow 44-39 victory in a first-team showdown at Grammar School, just before their second string edged a two-goal win against a real challenge from the U18 Blaze B girls.

Where the Premier Division title chase is concerned, Lightning A’s triumph over Blaze A was what defined the night – it keeps them in touch with leaders Resolution IT Green.

And although it was an hour-long battle, a single spell of under three minutes seemed decisive.

That came right at the start of the fourth quarter as Lightning effortlessly converted five straight goals to establish a cushion of eight.

Captain Donna Brehaut, their in-form GS, was instrumental in that late burst and credited it for killing the game.

‘They played really, really well and the game was really good, and I think what helped was getting that flurry of goals in the start of the fourth quarter,’ Brehaut said.

‘That was the first time we really got our noses ahead in the game – and that definitely helped.’

Blaze soon flattened that cushion and, after looking the stronger side in the dying minutes, they were quite unfortunate to gain only a single league point versus their opponents’ five.

Until then, it was very much anyone’s game.

Lightning left the blocks faster with a taster of Brehaut’s impeccable shooting, and though Blaze reeled them back, they rallied near the end of quarter one to lead 12-8.

Veteran GK Lorna Hall made life difficult for Blaze’s attack and claimed numerous rebounds, while C Charlotte Hill provided proven quality to an overall strong centre-court and eventually earned player-of-the-match.

Yet Blaze found their feet in the following minutes to limit Lightning’s lead to 21-20 at half-time.

Blaze’s tight zone defence proved troublesome and GD Ella Staples particularly excelled, working tirelessly to earn turnovers.

Eventual ‘POM’ Lillie Cochrane and C Nena Copperwaite also turned over numerous balls through the court.

Fine shooting from GS Zola Saunders and GA Abbie Greening strengthened Blaze’s cause, even if Lightning’s particularly clinical duo – Brehaut and GA Steph Batiste – often upstaged them.

Lightning are working around a probably season-ending injury for WD Nat Cavanagh, and after Bonnie Le Noury’s initial stint, Lydia McClean came on at half-time for a more attack-inclined take on the position.

The third quarter also ran tight, but Lightning crept ahead to 33-30 and were primed to start the final stanza strongly.

Immediately upon resumption came Lightning’s critical scoring run, and even if unforced errors plagued them afterwards, the win was theirs.

‘Really pleased with the win, but a nervy last five minutes,’ Brehaut said.

‘In the last five minutes, we did lose a bit of composure and put ourselves under some pressure.

‘All in all, it was a great game.’

Blaze captain Copperwaite finished in positive spirits, too, after building on their 39-27 loss to Lightning earlier this season.

‘We really enjoyed it and it was a really tough game, start to finish, and we had to work so hard,’ said a captain who currently misses Hannah Blondel and Amy Fallaize through injury.

‘We pulled it back a few times but these little things kept them ahead of us.

‘By and large our shooting was excellent, but there were some crucial shots at times where we could have got them in, and a few passes off the backline that we shouldn’t have put off court. It’s just little things like that.’

Blaze B produced a humdinger of a lower-table game against Lightning B, but it was ultimately not to be for them – they lost 52-50.

The U18 side fired themselves six clear in quarter one and still led marginally, 24-22, at half-time.

However, Lightning flipped the scoreline to 43-36 in their favour with an outstanding third quarter, ultimately denying Blaze their first win of the season despite the underdogs finding new intensity in the last 15 minutes.

The player honours went to two substitutes – Blaze’s Amelie Carre and Lightning’s Rose Haysom, a Division One step-up.