After two great wins against Cardiff and Leicester on the 2 previous weekends, Taunton Tigers Ladies entertained Bristol Storm at home in an effort to make it 3 wins in a row at National League level, another first for this young side. The wins of the previous weeks meant that Tigers were more confident in tackling their closest derby side, particularly having won their 2 previous games against their luckless opponents, who had pushed many sides in the league, but were still awaiting their first victory. Coach Steve Green was in no mood to let the Tigers have the dubious honour of being the first side to fall to the Storm this season and his pre-game talk certainly focused the minds of the players.
Tigers got off to an excellent start, with Hannah Watkins having a particularly strong 1st quarter, as a lead of 10 points was established within the 1st six minutes. The Tigers hallmark fast-break was working particularly well and creating opportunities in abundance for each of the inside players. The now familiar turnovers by Tigers undermined their very good start and enabled the Storm to steal 6 points in the quarter, much against the run of play, but Tigers took the quarter 16 – 6. Tigers good work continued into the second quarter as youngsters Ella Hewton and Frankie Fair were introduced to the game and each secured a brace of twos as Tigers stretched their lead to 17 points by the half, leading 31 – 14.
Storm came out after half-time firing on all cylinders and made early inroads into the Tigers lead, however, 8 unanswered points from Abby Pow restored the Tigers dominance, after the Storm had closed to 12 points. Sound inside work from Emily Farthing and Laura Dyke was stretching the Bristol defence and giving outside opportunities for guards Hannah Maddocks and Aimee Brook, as Tigers finished the quarter leading comfortably 50 – 28. With the game won, the task of stretching the lead and securing a maximum points difference between the sides turned out to be a bit of a stalemate situation as both sides struggled to score. Easy scores from Jenny Ridgway and Nicky Hartston restored the situation and allowed the Tigers to run our easy winners 58 – 33.