Hinckley A dig deep to secure victory over Jets
HINCKLEY A had to fight hard for their victory this week against Jets. The first quarter ended at a low score of just 5-2 to Hinckley, reflecting the defensive battles at both ends of the court.
Jets provided lots of zone marking, making Hinckley work hard to get the ball down the court. Hinckley persisted to maintain the lead throughout the first three quarters thanks to the impenetrable circle defence combo of Chloe Sansome and Emma Draycott, making countless intercepts and winning rebounds.
Jess Rainbow (player of the match) also played a vital role in defence, as well as feeding the ball down the court amidst a tough defensive pressure.
Things kicked up a gear for Hinckley in the final quarter, the team went back to basics to safely deliver the ball down court. The shooters started to tick away at the score sheet for a final score of 27-16 to Hinckley.
Hinckley B took on Arley’s Angels at home in blustery conditions on Saturday morning. Close marking by circle defenders Lucy Chapman and Bethany Willars forced errors from the Arley attack which Hinckley were able to capitalise on, turning over the ball and patiently moving it up the centre court with WD
Caron Ogden. The gusting wind made goal scoring difficult for Hinckley’s shooting pair of Carole Payne and Lucy Marsden, but patient passing of the ball around the circle by Katie Phillips and Beth Thurairajah enabled Hinckley to keep possession and manoeuvre the shooters closer to the goal post to make their attempts easier to convert to goals.
Hinckley kept the scoreboard ticking over consistently and closed out the game strongly. Final score was 51-32 to Hinckley with player of the match awarded to Centre Beth Thurairajah.
The C team took on an undefeated Whitnash on a horrible, cold and windy day. Hinckley C led after the first quarter due to some brilliant defending and attacking.
Unfortunately, the rest of the game didn’t seem to follow that pattern as the C’s struggled with the wind and a few unforced errors which allowed Whitnash to dominate the rest of the game and ease to a 41-26 win. POM was Jess Pickering who had a great game at WD.
Hinckley D team got a bit blown away this week in their second match against Stockton. The first time around was a close loss but this week the high winds meant Hinckley D lost 29-16 despite holding their own in the second and third quarter. D team kept their heads up throughout and had some end to end play and long periods of possession in the attacking third. Player of the match went to Anna Clayden at GK for sportsmanship and positive attitude.
Hinckley’s F team faced two away games this week, starting with a re-arranged match against Alvis E.
The first quarter started off well with play being pretty evenly matched finishing 7-7 and the second quarter continued in the same vein.
Hinckley’s defence worked hard throughout the game, getting many turnovers and linked well together to feed the ball down court.
Unfortunately, Hinckley let it slip in the third quarter after making some changes at half time which didn’t have the impact they wanted. Several centre passes were intercepted by Alvis’s tight defence, feeds to the circle were not strong enough and the attack failed to score as many goals and Alvis went ahead.
Another change in the final quarter saw play evenly matched but not enough for Hinckley to close the gap and they lost the match 36-26. POM went to Becky Hamilton at GK/GD.
Hinckley F then played Warwick ladies Saturday with both teams having a slow start finishing the first quarter 6-4 in Warwick’s favour.
The second quarter proved difficult for Hinckley with many intercepts from Warwick forcing too many errors by Hinckley. Hinckley decided a change in the attack was needed so moved some personnel and brought on fresh legs, this changed the dynamic of the game, and the quarter was much improved, Hinckley were able to feed the ball better into the circle and were able to close the gap to 2.
Hinckley’s dominant GK was replaced due to injury by Hinckley’s usual GS, who despite playing out of position managed to get some good intercepts to keep the pressure on.
The last quarter was almost going goal for goal and Hinckley were very unlucky despite their determination not to be able to close the gap and in the last minutes of the game lost 25-21. Player of match went to Eboni Clarke at C and GA.