Round 7 of the Netball Super League brought the season to its halfway point as the battle for the top four becomes tighter than ever, with Loughborough Lightning remaining unbeaten, despite a close game with fourth-place Nottingham Forest, with London Pulse and AO Manchester Thunder confidently gaining momentum closely behind.
Outside of the top four, London Mavericks and LexisNexis Dragons sit with just one point between them, as NIC Leeds Rhinos and Birmingham Panthers continue to build their seasons, the latter gaining a breakthrough first win of the season in round 7.
Round Seven Results:
London Pulse 56-46 London Mavericks
To start round 7, London Pulse continued their confident run of form with a composed 10-goal victory over London Mavericks at the Copper Box Arena, taking a 20-8 lead after the first quarter. After a competitive opening quarter, Pulse gradually asserted control through defence, limiting Mavericks’ attacking pressure (keeping them to 71% shooting) and capitalising on turnovers with 16 deflections, 14 gains, 7 rebounds, and 7 interceptions. England Rose, Funmi Fadoju, made 8 gains, 6 interceptions, 4 deflections, and 3 rebounds, and was awarded Player of the Match for her standout individual performance. Mavericks started to limit the difference, with Amelia Hall and Emma Thacker making an immediate impact within the Amex Super Shot period, however, the strong shooting at 91% from Pulse, led by Kamogelo Maseko with 27 goals, continued to push the scoreline out of reach.
LexisNexis Dragons 47-48 Birmingham Panthers
Birmingham Panthers recorded their first win of the season away to LexisNexis Dragons, edging out the hosts by a single goal victory. Following a strong first half, Panthers led 23-28 at half-time, however, the away side let their lead slip and were down by one with 90 seconds to play. LexisNexis Dragons’ defensive performance continued their momentum with 22 deflections, 3 interceptions and 8 pickups, but struggled in their through-court performance with 11 unforced errors disrupting their game. Whereas, Panthers held their composure with an 80% shooting accuracy, with 15 deflections and 6 interceptions. Panthers’ young Roses goal attack Sophie Egbaran, who is their NXT Gen player who stepped up into the squad in place of the injured Tiana Metuarau and was rewarded with the Player of the Match, scored 23 goals, including the winning goal in the dying seconds of the game.
AO Manchester Thunder 63-49 NIC Leeds Rhinos
AO Manchester Thunder delivered one of the most commanding performances of Round 7, with a clinical 14-goal victory against Leeds Rhinos. Thunder’s clinical shooting circle, with England Roses Eleanor Cardwell and Lois Person and Australia’s Sophie Fawns scoring 11 Super Shots between them and keeping a 84% shooting accuracy. Cardwell scored 25 out of 29 of her one-point shots, putting her third in the league’s charts for goals this season with 193 overall. In their defence, Nicola Smith and Josie Huckle proved to once again be integral with 3 rebounds each (contributing to the sides’ 10 overall) and helping to build pressure to force 8 unforced errors from the visitors.
Nottingham Forest 74-75 Loughborough Lightning
To finish round 7, Loughborough Lightning maintained their unbeaten start with a dramatic one-goal victory over Nottingham Forest which saw both sides closing contested: with Forest’s defensive producing more gains, pickups and rebounds. In a high-scoring contest, Lightning’s composure in the closing stages proved decisive as both sides sat at over 90% shooting and 11 deflections. Samantha Wallace-Joseph was clinical for Loughborough scoring 54 goals, including 10 Amex Super Shots despite her opposition Jayda Pechova making 7 gains (out of the 15) and 4 rebounds for Forest (out of their 5).
What’s Next:
Round 8 Fixtures:
Friday 17th April
- Birmingham Panthers vs Nottingham Forest (19:00 Worcester Arena)
Saturday 18th April
- AO Manchester Thunder vs LexisNexis Dragons (16:00 Belle Vue Arena)
- Loughborough Lightning vs London Mavericks (18:00 Sir David Wallace Arena)
Sunday 19th April
- London Pulse vs NIC Leeds Rhinos (18:00 Copper Box Arena)
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