Taunton Tigers Women secured another impressive win at National League level when they beat experienced Plymouth Racers by one point in the first round of the Women's National Cup, earning them a tie against 1st division side Solent in the next round. For the third time this season, Tigers were involved in another thrilling one point ball game. To date they have won two and lost one. The game they lost was the opening game of the season against local rivals Racers, and the win in the cup avenged the earlier reverse and also earned this Tigers team the first win ever against a Racers side — it's been a long time coming!
Tigers got off to a cracking start, moving the ball at speed and filling the lanes to split the Racers defence time and time again, and they should have been 10 points up in the opening 3 minutes. Not for the first time this season, inconsistent finishing from easy lay ups proved costly for the girls and allowed Racers to remain in contention. Valuable points from Jenny Ridgway and Hannah Watkins steadied the nerves and enabled the Tigers to take the quarter 11 – 9.
Laura Dyke and Hannah Maddocks kept the scoreboard ticking over in the 2nd quarter, whilst guards Abby Pow, Mel Pattemore, Aimee Brook and Nicky Hartston restricted the points flow from Racers dangerous top scorers Ruiz and Pinch, allowing the Tigers to win the half 23 – 15.
As often happens in low scoring games, early scores by the opposition can affect confidence. Two early long range 3 point shots from Pinch pulled Racers back into the game and narrowed the lead to 32 – 29 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Early Tigers baskets in the final quarter, once again turned the tide in favour of the Taunton girls, until a late flurry of points in the last minute of this nail biting game narrowed the result to a one point win for Tigers 40 – 39.
Tigers coach, John Abbott commented after the game,
“This was an excellent win for the girls, and was a real team effort. I was really pleased with the way that the girls performed both defensively and offensively. We dealt with the threats posed by Plymouth extremely well and we are continuing to make tangible progress. There are so many positives that we will take away from today's game, including the manner with which new signings Caroline Gulden and Grace Savage fitted seamlessly into our team's game plans.”