They have been preparing for endless months, and were more than ready for this match… and then Severn Vale arrived, taller than our teams and they began to have a wobble. A few motivational words and reminders of what they have been achieving in lessons and training and the first centre pass was taken.

The ball moved nicely between Bevan and Randall and with the use of Howells, the first ball got to Randall in a shooting position which she took nicely. The defensive set up of Dashper-Pike, Baker and Libali went out hard on the centre pass and quickly turned the ball over. Moving swiftly through court using Phillips in a good WA position the ball quickly found it to the hands of Randall again.

The team worked hard and gained a 5-0 lead. Only letting a goal to Severn Vale in at this point. The final play before the end of the quarter bought Howells’ first goal - a great lift to her confidence and took the girls 6-1 into the end of the quarter.

As we are lucky enough to have two teams in year 7, we allowed everyone some court time, and the next combination found it hard to keep up with the speed and accuracy of the Severn Vale passes. The ball was taken in well by Starkey and Hawkins, but found it difficult to get it to Henley Bank Hands. Colling and Wright worked hard to try and get the ball through the sheer volume of Severn Vale hands. Unfortunately Henley Bank could not capitalise on the great start and Severn Vale had caught up 6-5

Another strong quarter from the starting seven, saw Henley Bank steam ahead 12-5, with Howells really finding her form, and Baker and Daspher-Pike working hard to prevent shooting opportunities for Seven Vale.

The final quarters of the game saw some changes with Phillips stepping into the shooting circle and Wright coming into WA. Although this did unsettle the team for a few minutes they still managed to pull away to 15- 5. Howells moved into help the shooting circle in the second seven so that they had a target to feed, but with Severn Vale finding their feet on court through 6 quarters they continued to move the ball easily through to goal, pulling back the final score to 15-12.

Some excellent play by all our year 7 girls, and selected Players of the match were Randall and Starkey.

Next up Beaufort and Crypt...