NSL Unwrapped: Lightning and Pulse secure top four

Loughborough Lightning and London Pulse confirmed their spots in the Play-Offs with wins in Round 11. 

Lightning beat LexisNexis Cardiff Dragons while Pulse defeated Birmingham Panthers. 

London Mavericks took a huge step forward in the battle for fourth as they beat Nottingham Forest while Manchester Thunder took the northern bragging rights with victory over NIC Leeds Rhinos. 

Lightning secure top four 

Loughborough Lightning became the first team to book their places in the Netball Super League Play-Offs with a 71-54 victory. 

Samantha Wallace-Joseph led the scoring for the visitors at the Utilita Arena in the Welsh capital as she was rewarded with the Kissimmee Player of the Match. 

Down the other end of the court, Alice Harvey helped to restrict the Dragons shooters, who shot at 81% compared with Lightning’s 93%. 

Pulse pounce on Panthers to make play-offs 

London Pulse secured their spot in the semi-finals with a 63-58 win over Birmingham Panthers. 

Photo credit: Hayley Balvin

The hosts found themselves behind after the first quarter as Panthers were clinical, before Pulse responded to lead at the break. 

The team in pink slowly eked out a greater gap as changes to their seven proved fruitful.

And despite Panthers piling on the pressure late on, Pulse did enough to come away with a narrow win.

Mavericks make their mark 

London Mavericks staked their claim for a top-four spot as they defeated Nottingham Forest 57-48. 

Emily Andrew was at her free scoring best with 42 goals, but it was Razia Quashie who stole the show as she restricted Forest’s star shooter Rolene Streutker to just 21 goals. 

Credit: Harry Phelps

The result pushed Mavericks six points clear of Forest in fifth with three games of the regular season left to play. 

Thunder win War of the Roses 

Manchester Thunder triumphed in a 69-55 win over northern rivals NIC Leeds Rhinos. 

The away side made a lightning-fast start at the First Direct Arena in Leeds as quick scoring and a buzzer-beating goal from Elmeré van der Berg pushed Thunder out to an 11-point lead after the first 15 minutes.

The northwest-based outfit further increased their advantage before Rhinos were able to get a foothold on proceedings, reducing the deficit to just six at half time.

Main and this photo credit: Ben Lumley

There was an immediate reaction in the third quarter as Manchester Thunder’s defence began to turn the screw. 

The gap remained thanks to a professional performance in the final quarter from Thunder who saw out their eighth win of the season. 

History made at the Copper Box 

England Thorns made history as they took on the Australian Kelpies in the curtain-raiser to Pulse’s match on Sunday. 

Their 63-34 defeat to the team from Down Under marked the first match in a maiden series between England and Australia on English soil. 

The final two matches of the three-game Aurora Series will take place next weekend, with the Thorns taking on the Kelpies before Loughborough Lightning and London Pulse’s home matches in Round 12.

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