Team Bath had “fun” today on court, according to captain Pamela Cookey, as her side produced a fast-flowing and consistent performance to score a 56-40 home win over Loughborough Lightning in the Cooperative Superleague.

Team Bath excited a strong home crowd at the University of Bath Sports Training Village, opening fiercely and reaching double figures at 10-4 within the first nine minutes.

The visitors hit a good defensive spell helped by rising Loughborough star Layla Guscoth at goal-keeper. But Bath countered in a strongly-paced contest by scoring the fastest goal of the match when Jo Binns’ centre-pass was tipped on by wing-attack Sasha Corbin for shooter Rosie Allison to collect and score in less than two seconds to reach 11-5.

TeamBath closed out the first quarter 14-9 despite a number of well-fought Loughborough turn-overs.

A run of seven rapid-fire scores from 14-10 put TeamBath 21-10 ahead in the second quarter. Corbin and Binns linked well for the home side whilst Serena Guthrie at wing-defence, Stacey Francis at goal-defence and Eboni Beckford-Chambers at goal-keeper were all involved in interceptions.

“The way our defence played was superb. We have been working on it in training and this is the best transition from training to a match that I’ve seen from a Team Bath side in a long time”, said a clearly-delighted Team Bath coach Jess Garland.

A couple of home-side fumbles allowed Loughborough some hope as they battled back to 23-14 in the second quarter before some free-flowing moves saw the defending champions delight a big home crowd to reach 28-15 with five minutes of the quarter remaining.

Leading 32-21 at half-time, coach Garland brought Asha Tett into the attack, moving Cookey to goal-shooter for the third quarter. Former England captain and now Loughborough assistant coach, Olivia Murphy, working alongside head coach Colette Thompson, countered by not only shuffling roles but by taking Bliss, Luck and James off and replacing them with McFarlane, Archer and Motaung.

By mid-quarter the visitors had shaved a goal off the deficit at 37-27. The Bath defence continued to neutralise any danger from Jo Harten, as the England sharp-shooter found herself forced to shoot often from long-range.

Up 45-31 as the final quarter got underway, Garland brought Keable off the bench at goal-keeper, moved Francis to goal-defence and rested Binns after an eye-catching performance at centre. Loughborough brought Luck back at goal-defence for Bliss.

The visitors kept up the work rate in the final quarter but Bath maintained their lead and closed the match out 56-40.

“We put in a consistent performance today”, added Garland. “We won all four quarters and I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time. The intensity for both mind and body in the way we played today was enormous but the players know that they need to be able to sustain that level”.

“All in all I’m pleased with the performance today”, said Thompson for Loughborough. “To take on Bath at home with all the experience and talent here, and come away with today’s result was a big achievement. We are learning every game”.

“We made some errors and we still have a lot to learn”, said Loughborough captain, Harten. “Now we need to work on things in training and transfer them into our next match against Glasgow”.

TeamBath’s next game, meanwhile, is a snow-postponed and now re-arranged home fixture against TeamNorthumbria on Friday 19th March at 7.30pm. And Team Bath is offering its fans a Multiple March Magic Offer for the games on:

Friday 19th March – 7.30pm: TeamBath v Team Northumbria
Monday 22nd March – 7.30pm: TeamBath v Hertfordshire Mavericks – televised game
Sunday 28th March – 4.30pm: TeamBath v Surrey Storm

Adults who buy tickets for two of the games get a £3 discount when the tickets are bought at the same time, with a £5 discount on offer if they buy tickets for three games. There are similar discounts for concessions.

“March is a crucial month for TeamBath as we aim to retain our Superleague title,” said Jess Garland, TeamBath’s head coach. “They’re some of the biggest games of the season for us and it would be great to have to have big crowds behind us to cheer us on.

“Our fans have been tremendously loyal and we’re keen to reward them with some great offers through March Multiple Magic.”

The usual ticket price for TeamBath’s home Superleague games is £7 per game for adults and £5 for concessions. Under TeamBath’s March Multiple Magic offer, adults can buy tickets for two games for £11 and for three games for £16. Concessions can buy tickets to two games for just £8 and tickets to three games for £11.

The March Multiple Madness packages apply for Superleague tickets purchased before Friday 12th March.

TeamBath’s game against England at the University of Bath at 7.30pm on Tuesday 16th March isn’t covered by the March Multiple Magic ticket offer, but tickets for that game are available at the usual Superleague ticket price of £7 for adults and £5 for concessions.

For ticket information about TeamBath’s home games please go to http://www.teambath.com/netball/netball-performance/co-operative-superleague/

Starting sevens:
TeamBath
GS Rosie Allison; GA: Pamela Cookey (capt), WA Sasha Corbin, C Jo Binns, WD Serena Guthrie, GD Stacey Francis; GK Eboni Beckford-Chamber,
Bench: Lindsay Keable, Kirsty Delves, Amanda Trounce, Asha Tett

Changes:

Q3: Tett Bench – WA; Cookey GA-GS; Francis GD- GK; Beckford-Chambers GK- GD; Allison GS – Bench. Q4: Guthrie WD – C; Francis GD – WD; Beckford-Chambers GK – GD, Keable bench – Gk, Binns C – Bench.

Loughborough Lightning
GS Jo Harten (capt); GA Becky James; WA Alex Kirk; C Sarah-Jane O’Sullivan; WD Kara Luck; GD Emma Bliss; GK Layla Guscoth
Bench: Katy Rose, Masego Motaung, Tallisa Haynes, Michaela McFarlane, Mia Archer

Changes:

Q3: Luck WD – Bench, Moatung –WD; Archer Bench – GK; Guschoth GK – GD; Bliss GD – Bench; Kirk WA – GA; James GA – Bench; McFarlane Bench – WA. Q4: Luck Bench – GD; Bliss GD – Bench.

Quarter scores (TeamBath first): Q1: 14-9 Q2: 18-12 (32-21) Q3: 13-10 (45-31) Q4: 11-9 (56-40)

Shooting stats:

TeamBath: Q1: Allison GS 10/16 – 62.50%; Cookey 4/5 80%; Q2: Allison GS 11/12 – 91.67%; Cookey GA 7/8 – 87.50%; Q3: Cookey GS 4/5 – 80%; GA: ¾ - 75%; Tett GS 1/1 – 100%; GA: 5/7 – 71.43% Q4: Cookey GA: 7/8 – 87.50%; Tett GS 4/7 – 57.14%.

Loughborough Lightning: Q1: Harten GS: 6/9 – 66.67%; James GA: 3/5 – 60%; Q2: Harten GS: 5/7 – 71.43%; James 7/7 – 100%; Q3: Harten GS – 8/13 – 61.54%; Kirk GA: 2/3 – 66.67%; Q4: Harten GS: 8/12 – 66.67%; Kirk GA: 1/1 – 100%.