Winning 59-44 in Saturday’s opening match of their double-header at Trinity Oxford was already cause for celebration, but for the first time they managed to back it up the next day, in that case prevailing 52-44.
They are now sitting fourth of the eight teams contesting the development-driven league, level on points with upcoming opponents Abbey Hurricanes in third.
And Guernsey director of netball Sally Carns could barely have been prouder.
‘A great weekend of netball, getting two wins on the board,’ she said.
‘It feels like it’s been a long time coming, but we’ve been working so hard on and off court. The girls have really been putting in shifts and the coaches have been working so hard.’
With Dave Dorey Memorial Trophy winner Bridget Yabsley unavailable, Kirsty Bourgaize had stepped up to help coach the Guernsey girls.
Her daughter Eva Bourgaize put in an inspired performance on the Saturday, shooting with over 70% accuracy to earn player of the match.
The youthful side stamped their dominance early on, coming through quarter one with a 16-10 lead.
Although on paper win-less and bottom of the table, Trinity proved a very physical side and largely matched their visitors in the following period, reaching half-time still in touch at 28-21 down.
After a strong third quarter, where mid-courter Kerys Chamberlain’s first appearance of the season was among several changes made, Guernsey led 43-31 and looked to already have the win locked in.
‘Really nice to see Bryony [de Garis] and Kerys stepping up from our development squad and making their entrance into the performance squads as permanent members,’ Carns added.
‘Both of them put in an absolute shift.
‘The rest of our team really, really solidified our performance and everybody’s error rates were really low – which is something we’ve been focussing on.
‘Our turnovers were really high and our conversion to goal was really good.’
A younger Panther also took the honours in Sunday’s return match as impact player McKenzie Rich put in a characteristically strong defensive performance, claiming lots of turnovers.
After leading 13-9 and 28-18 in the opening quarters, Panthers were threatened with losing their stranglehold over the weekend as tired legs started to show.
Yet although Trinity finished strongly in quarter three – where both sides scored 13 apiece – and then outscored Panthers in the final quarter, the deficit was too much to overcome.
‘We’ve got to continue to work on our fitness to be able to sustain that,’ Carns admitted.
‘However, we built up enough of a lead in that first half to be able to really perform.
‘Absolutely delighted for the girls, delighted for the squad as a whole, and the whole weekend was just really positive.’
Panthers continue to learn and develop in their first league campaign since the ill-fated season of 2019-20 and will be looking to put that into practice in their next double-header, where they face Hurricanes over the weekend of Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February.
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