Severn Stars stumble to Saracens Mavericks

Stars took on the fifth placed team in the VNSL at Production Park Studio 001 in Wakefield on Sunday evening (11th April) hoping to bounce back after a recent loss against London Pulse. However, what started as being a goal for goal first quarter, Mavericks quickly picked up Stars’ mistakes which extended their lead and was maintained throughout.

The players paid respect to the death of His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh by a two-minute silence before the first whistle.

Following the game, Head Coach of Stars Melissa Bessell, said: “We started off really well, but you know we just lost our way a little bit. Losing Bethan obviously it has certainly put on a lot of pressure but that’s why we have 15. It’s giving others opportunity. We know that it’s the last time we’re up here and we will start afresh in two weeks. I think I might have changed everybody in that last quarter! When you’re only 10 down you know that you can still keep plugging, plugging plugging. It was a good game, I enjoyed it. It was a nice little battle.”

Stars first centre pass was taken straight to goal, shot beautifully by Paige Reed. By having an old teammate of Jodie Gibson by her side, the pressure was on, but the shot was executed. Mavericks quickly retaliated by putting their first goal on the board, with Spencer shooting from afar. With the close height matchup between Trip and Rowe, Stars ensured to add the extra bit of power on the ball when giving the overhead. A few early nerves and miscommunications from both teams highlighted that some changes had to be made. With Captain Nia Jones spotting Rowe in the circle by herself, the long ball in demonstrated to Mavericks that going into quarter two, they would need to be more body on body. Quarter one ended 9-17 and Stars shooting at 100%.

Stars capitalised on Mavericks early mistake at the start of the second quarter with Herdman taking a rebound from Venter. Despite lots of changes being made to the Stars lineup, they adapted quickly and focused on getting the ball in the net. With Mavericks increasing on their lead, the held ball in the last few seconds of the first half saw Stars shoot down the court to sink one last shot before the whistle. With Rowe and Reed still shooting at 100%, Mavericks were entering half time ten goals in front, 17-27.

Quarter three saw bullet balls and pocket intercepts from Stars but Mavericks’ speed was second to none. There were a number of opportunities for Stars to applaud their hard-working defensive unit which forced Mavericks to slip up. However, Stars could not capitalise on their turnovers as ball was taken in the air by Gabby Marshall and Sasha Corbin. With the remaining few minutes of quarter three left, youngest player in Stars’ set up, Issy Eaton entered the court at Goal Attack, hoping to make a difference. An umpire error saw all players flustered but Mavericks were quick to pick up on this error and take it to goal, ending the quarter 25-35.

The final quarter saw many changes yet again for Stars, with Gibbons making an appearance at Goal Attack for the first time. Despite the hard work from the whole team, the eagle eye of Jo Trip used Stars’ unforced errors in the circle to have a run of five goals, uninterrupted. Bolakoro’s use of body on body against Britt Clarke forced Mavericks to use the recycle option more but Stars could not prevent the accuracy of Kadeen Corbin. The game ended with a similar score to when these two teams met the first-time round, 34-54.

Stars next face Strathclyde Sirens on the 25th of April at 14:15pm.

iPro Player of the Match: Gabby Marshall (Saracens Mavericks).

Match report from Severn Stars.

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