Taunton Tigers Women received a mauling when they entertained high flying Southend Swifts in the top of the table tussle at Richard Huish Dome as part of Southend's double header weekend in the west country. Following the Tigers first 2 wins at National League level the previous weekend expectations for a competitive game were high amongst the spectators, some of whom had travelled from the east coast of England to watch. Southend finished in the top 3 of the division last season and are packed out with experience. They have a fine feeder system to bring on the best of the talent in the South-East and usually excel at Cadet and Under 18 levels with players regularly forcing their way through to 1st team contention. Taunton Tigers Women, in this formative year, back in the top flight have not yet re-established feeder groups at junior level, however, the signs are that the presence of the new National League side is rekindling early interest at grass roots level.
Coach John Abbot's pre game talk re-emphasised the need for maintaining high intensity defence to counter the Southend scoring threats and also encouraged his players to run the boards hard and take the game to their more experienced opponents.
Tigers didn't get off to the start they had hoped for, trailing by 8 points within the first 2 minutes as early and costly turnovers of possession set the tone for the whole game. Early Tiger's bench rotation served to stem the Southend scoring tide, but couldn't arrest it as they took the quarter with a comfortable 10 point lead of 16 – 6. Points were hard to come by for the hard working Tigers inside as the Southend miserly defence limited clear looks at the basket. Disappointingly, Tigers trade mark fast breaks were not earning the reward they deserved as uncharacteristic and unpressurised misses mounted in sequence with the increasing turnover count, enabling Southend to finish the half comfortably leading 33 – 19.
A 14 point deficit at the half offered a small glint of encouragement for the girls, however, the ever increasing rate of turnovers and missed Tiger's shots continued unabated. At the same time, Southend appeared to maximise every opportunity that came their way, allowing them first to move to a 27 – 56 three quarter lead, and then to a final winning total of 38 – 80.
It was obvious from the outset that this wasn't to be Tiger's day as whatever they tried failed to gain reward, whilst their more experienced opponents gained ground at every opportunity. The game has given this Tiger's side lots to consider in their development stage. John Abbott was at pains to stress that his side will take many positives from the match,
“These are early days for many of our players at National League level and they will assimilate the lessons of this game as part of their learning and development process. The players have a clear idea on the facets of their games which require improvement, and we will be addressing these both individually and collectively in the coming weeks. Today we matched our opponents in large areas of the game, but were punished harshly for our errors. We will learn from this and move forward. The target for our squad this season is consolidation at National League level, anything better will be a bonus.”
The Tigers Women's next game is a local derby next Sunday against Plymouth Racers in Round 1 of the National Cup. Tip off for the game at Wellsprings is 2:45pm (Immediately prior to Tigers Men's Cup game).