Match Report - Team Thunder 03.02.2019

Team Thunder hosted Taunton side Hovelands at Chulmleigh, in which started strongly for Thunder. Defending duo of Paula Young & Ruth Chamings worked tirelessly in defence to ensure a shooting opportunity for Lorraine Cleverdon Brend & Louise Lathwell. Plenty of opportunities where there for the taking, but our long range shots were not sinking the net, due to the height of their Goal Keeper applying pressure to our shooters.  We came off the first quarter with a small margin of a lead 10-7.  Making her debut for Team Thunder, 13 year Kitty Sampson showed how she was ready to take the leap from Junior to Senior level, and she certainly didn't disappoint with great feeds down the court and into the shooting circle. She kept composed and gave confidence to all her team, earning the accolade of Player of the match from both Titans and the opposition. We continued to stay in the game, and Rowan Fiztsimmons & Lorraine Beel linked up in the centre court to feed the ball well. At half time the score line was 19-17 to Titans.  Claire Turner took to the court for the third quarter as WA, and Hovelands made changes to their line up, in which disrupted Thunder's play. Their speed of their WD intercepted many a passes, and they started to claw their way back into the game. At the end of the third quarter, we were now down by 2 goals, 28-26.  The last quarter was going to be a master test of strength and endurance. Lorraine Beel came back onto court at WA, and Claire Turner moved to WD. Paula & Ruth continued to apply plenty of pressure and gain us possession, but we couldn't get the flow up the court to enable us to see the shooters. With only 9 attempts on goal for the last quarter, and only 5 of them sinked, it wasn't enough to get us back into the game. Hovelands sensed the turn of the game, and found another gear to take the win 39-31.

Team Line Up: Paula Young, Ruth Chamings, Rowan Fitzsimmons, Kitty Sampson, Lorraine Beel, Lorraine Cleverdon Brend, Louise Lathwell & Claire Turner.