After a 2 week break without games, Taunton Tigers Women recommenced their season with a double header weekend of games — Bristol Storm away in the National Trophy on Saturday evening, followed by a National League game early afternoon on Sunday. No double headers are easy, particularly when both games have to be played within a 24 hour period, a test for most sides.
The Trophy game on Saturday pitted these close rivals against each other for the 2nd time in two games — I'm sure both sides will have seen far too much of each other by Xmas, as they are scheduled to play each other again in the National Cup, and the again in the league, both in Novenber. In the previous encounter Tigers had shaded a very closely fought game, winning 55 – 49 on the night. Bristol these days are heavily bolstered by the arrival of 4 former Cardiff players and are a far more confident and better organized outfit than in previous campaigns.
The Tigers certainly didn't estimate that they would be in for an easy ride, however, our girls on this occasion were a bit slow out of the blocks and paid a heavy price in the first quarter as Bristol set off quickly with a well-organised and direct game plan. Bristol's quick ball movement was soon rewarded with a run of scoring by Simm and Fairclough, who were sometimes fortunate, but always unerring in their finishing, whilst Tigers shots seemed never to drop. With Tigers defence lacking its usual intensity, and the team picking up cheap reaching fouls, Storms lead worryingly grew to 17 – 6 after only 5 minutes of play (bolstered by a three long range 3 pointers). Tigers were clearly unsettled, but composed themselves to close out the quarter, trailing 20 – 10.
The second quarter started so much better for Tigers as they stepped up their ball intensity on defence, suddenly it was Storm who were rushing their shots and taking poor options as Tigers clawed their way back into the game. The intensity lead to a string of Storm turnovers, which Hannah Watkins, Jenny Ridgway and Millie Watkins punished heavily to bring 10 unanswered points to Tigers, whilst Hannah Byrne, Aimee Brook and Nicky Hartston's tidy work at the defensive end stemmed the Storm offensive threat to a trickle as the teams ended level at 27 points apiece.
The second half promised much for Tigers, but didn't quite deliver the goods — the effort was there for all to see — patches of excellent play by Laura Dyke and Abby Pow were neutralized by a series of unforced errors as Storm inched ahead, before some late scoring in the quarter by Emily Farthing and Hannah Maddocks allowed Tigers to pull level, before needless fouls let Storm go to the line and lead 40 – 37 at the end of the quarter.
Strong offensive boards and early scoring by MVP Millie Watkins, who finished with a game high of 19 points, regained parity for the Tigers, before Gowing, hit a deflating brace of threes and a long 2 pointer to open up an 8 point gap for Storm with only 3 minutes left to play. A late time out call by Coach Green attempted to rectify the situation, but although Tigers pulled back, more trips to the line by Bristol resulted in the final result going to Storm 54 – 48.
Tigers coach, Steve Green commented,
“The result is obviously a big disappointment for the girls and myself. We are all aware that we can perform so much better than we did today. It was a close game, despite the fact we were not all firing on all cylinders, and we dominated inside at the offensive end. Full credit to Storm for their win in, what was, a very close and even game — we will be more wary of their outside shooting threat next time around. It is now up to us to take on board the lessons we learned today and draw strength for the games ahead of us — starting tomorrow at home to UWIC.”