Wandsworth E vs. Phoenix J Black

Wandsworth E vs. Phoenix J Black - 46-39 (by Steph)
Selina, Helen K, Steph, Anna S, Ruth, Leanne, Helen P

First game of the season and we felt confident we could win this game against Phoenix. We got off to an OK start with mostly our own errors holding us back from ending the first quarter on top. We didn't let this get to us as we knew there was still plenty of time to gel as a team. We finished the first quarter 10-13.

We decided to concentrate on our own game and slow the pace down slightly in the second quarter. Phoenix added a lot of pressure in defence and upped their shooting conversion so everyone came out man on to pressure the ball down the court. We supported round the circle and played the ball in to Selena and Helen. The main deference here was that we cut out the majority of our own errors and finished 20-22 at half time.

The third quarter got off to a good start. We were all committed to bringing the score back to at least level. By this time our own errors were minimal and our defence made some great turnovers which meant we crept back to 31-30.

During the third quarter we had been finding some great overhead balls into the circle with Helen holding her space well against the GK. Towards the end of the third quarter and again in the last quarter Phoenix had decided to double mark our GS in the circle and block our GA out of the circle. To counter this we brought GD and WD up for support and kept working the ball aroud the circle until we could find a pass. Sometimes this meant 4/5 passes but it worked! Our shooters handled the pressure well and defence made some great turnovers. We pulled the game right back with excellent fight to finish 46-39!!!! Phew

Massive thank you to Elka for scoring and passing on her feedback at the end of each quarter.