The University of Lincoln’s Netball First team produced a solid display as they beat De Montfort 49-38 at the Sports Centre.
Having led for a majority of the match, Lincoln survived a late rally from their opponents to hold onto the win that moves them up to third in Midlands 3B.
The game started incredibly even, with the hosts unable to get a sustained lead, having continued to edge in front throughout the quarter.
However towards the end of the first quarter Lincoln began to find their rhythm, but De Montfort once again kept close.
The first quarter finished 11-9.
The second quarter started with a bang for Lincoln with a quick streak of points giving them an extended lead for the first time in the match.
They completely dominated by keeping their pass accuracy high and by forcing a number of key turnovers when DMU were attacking.
Lincoln finished the quarter even more in the lead, 26-19.
The reason Lincoln led so well was because of their attacking prowess within the goal ring.
Both Goal Attack Emily Woodsworth and Goal Shooter Helen Griffith were on great form with the majority of their shots easily looping into the net.
At the other end De Montfort didn’t have the same, with a mixture of great defending from Lincoln and poor decision making.
In the third quarter though DMU came out with new purpose and soon had Lincoln in a spin with some quick successive points.
However any nerves that Lincoln had were soon banished when Lincoln had their own set of successive points which re-established their strong lead.
De Montfort’s sudden burst though did remind Lincoln that their lead could soon be overhauled so they pressed and extended their lead even further.
The third quarter ended 36-27 to Lincoln.
It was now do or die for De Montfort and it showed as they for all out attack in the final quarter.
They threw everything they had Lincoln in a hope to overhaul the now large points gap and at times it looked like they could do it.
They got successive points a number of times but because of this, the Lincoln defence really stepped up.
With De Montfort trying to get the ball in the goal ring as quick as possible, they made mistakes and it was easy for Lincoln to retrieve the ball from their opposition.
And as Den Montfort threw everything into attack, gaps formed in their defence which Lincoln ruthlessly exposed to seal the result.
The game finished 49-38, giving Lincoln their second win of the season.
Netball captain Lyndsy Hutchinson
“Towards the end we played really well together”
On not losing at any point during the game: “It felt a little bit like we were losing as at times we weren’t playing to our best. However a few fresh legs on court at times really helped us.”
On having a comfortable lead: “It feels so much nicer to play because if you start losing you start panicking and you start passing the ball away.”
“We’ve got great shooters. Because we’re a new team we started working really well together. If we’re just having a rest we’ll just get them to shoot so it’s really good we got the goals in.”
Player of the Match? “Goal shooter, Helen Griffiths”