Loughborough Lightning triumph against local rivals Wasps

The Lightning defence harried Wasps from the first whistle with former Wasp Sam May at the forefront of the action. Lightning established a 3-0 lead inside the opening minute and didn’t look back from there as they reached the end of the first quarter with a nine-goal advantage.

Wasps bounced back well in the second quarter, putting together some strong attacking play with Rachel Dunn and Katie Harris performing well in the attacking third. The improvement meant that they were able to cut the half-time deficit to just five, as they trailed 21-26.

Wasps made their first changes in the third quarter with Ella Powell-Davies entering the game in a move which saw Amy Flanagan move to centre. Flanagan made an immediate impact with a superb interception before forcing a turnover in the next possession.

There was more encouraging attacking play from Wasps with Iona Christian showing some excellent footwork before feeding Dunn for one of the stand-out scores of the quarter. Loughborough were able to take a 31-37 lead going in to the final quarter, however.

Wasps' Jamaican international Gezelle Allison entered the fray in the final quarter and was able to link up well with Dunn but Lightning were ultimately able to pull further ahead and secure the win 42-52. The strong start from Loughborough made all the difference as Wasps had to try and play catch up from the very first minute.

Wasps Head Coach Mel Mansfield said: "I think today we let ourselves down defensively - normally we can turn enough ball over to give ourselves more opportunities. The game was lost in the first five minutes, you can’t play against a side like this and start like that. It just wasn’t our day today, we just weren’t good enough and you can’t play like that against Loughborough."

Mizuno Player of the Match: Mary Cholhok (Loughborough Lightning).

Match report from Wasps.

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