They overcame ZenZero Orange, in effect reigning champions Resolution IT Green, 59-48 in Tuesday night’s Winter League Premier Division contest at Les Varendes.
Flash are a new unit and in effect Lightning’s third team – having swapped places with Storm in a club restructure – so captain Lydia McClean was just one member taking huge encouragement from this second-week shock result.
‘The girls are absolutely ecstatic and feel really positive about the season ahead,’ she said.
‘ZenZero were missing a couple of players, but they still had a very strong seven and we won three quarters against them.’
The first half had run close, with Lightning leading Orange – who were playing up Blacks regulars Savannah Goddard and Tracey Lock – 14-12 at the quarter but then being levelled at 28 goals apiece.
But Flash excelled in quarter three, keeping their cool amid the pressure and capitalising on Orange’s errors to dominate the period 18-10.
Flash’s defence claimed plenty of turnovers during this spell, with Holly Cutter and Mariska Erasmus ‘intercepting balls left, right and centre’, according to the captain.
They also won the final quarter, albeit by a tighter 11-10 margin, to seal an exceptional victory.
That included weathering the disruption caused by player of the match GS Kate Seabook coming off with injury in the dying minutes, Kiara Walsh stepping into the role instead.
The captain also credited Abbie Greening’s work at GA, plus mid-courters Hayley Brehaut and Megan Davies for stepping up from their lower teams.
‘It’s going to be very exciting this season,’ McClean added.
Young GS Taylor Callanan earned POM for ZenZero.
In the previous match slot, Lightning’s Strike and Storm sides had clashed.
The A team had produced the expected victory, but they were made to work for it.
Storm are mainly a junior team and stunned their experienced clubmates by racing to a 15-10 quarter lead.
They remained in touch at half-time, trailing just 24-21, but the deficit grew to seven over the third quarter.
A Strike side led by a POM performance from GS Bryony de Garis then fired their way to an overall 59-38 victory through an excellent final stanza, which they dominated 20-6.
Effective young GD Mabel Hill-Tout earned POM for Storm.
