Taunton Tigers Women tipped off their new season campaign with a hard fought away win against close rivals Bristol Storm. These 2 sides joined the national league together 2 seasons ago and to date, Tigers have won all but one of their encounters. On previous form this should have presented an easing into the new season for the Tigers Women, however with the folding of so many rival national league teams in the run up to the season, Tigers walked on to the floor to play against 4 players who had last season won league runners-up medals for Cardiff Celts.
For their part, Tigers welcomed back into the fold Hanna Byrne and Millie Watkins, both products of Tigers Academy set up, and newly returned after very successful spells playing with Sheffield Hatters — good to have you back girls! Plus presented rising academy starlet Lydia Shaikh a well deserved first outing at national league level. The girls have trained well over the past 2 months and had a very competitive run-out in Tigers pre-season tournament and have waited impatiently for the season to get under way to test out refinements in their offensive options, and also to try out the effectiveness of their new defensive strategy.
The Tigers' game plan for this season is straight-forward, particularly with a strong bench, run the boards hard; be patient and take good options on offence; and play strong team defence. The girls got off to a more than competent start, moving the ball well and filling the lanes to split the Storm defence and culminate with a brace of well taken jump shots from Laura Dyke. An early 3 point reply from Gowing was a taste of things to come as Storm reversed the Tiger's early lead by mid-way through the 1st quarter and led Tigers by 13 – 7. The introduction of Hannah and Millie Watkins, plus steady and effective bench rotation to maintain intensity took the sting out of Storm as Tigers closed out the quarter leading 15 – 13.
Early scores by Abby Pow, and two long range 3 point scores by Jenny Ridgway and Hanna Byrne allowed Tigers to stretch their lead and put significant ball pressure on the Storm guards to cut off the supply inside. Although not pretty it was certainly effective, and allowed Coach Green the opportunity of introducing Lydia Shaikh to the action. What promised to be a sparkling debut was marred by an ankle injury as Lydia drove for the basket in the final seconds of the game, picking up shooting fouls, but unable to take any further part in the game as Tigers lead 29 – 20 at the half-time break.
The 3rd quarter was a bit of an anti-climax as Tigers started sluggishly, allowing Storm to make 7 unanswered points before, a stern time out by Tigers served to refocus minds. It was clear that Storm were not going to roll over and some tough, smart defending was called for to ‘steady the ship’ and to enable a firm launch pad to exercise offensive options. Nicky Hartston and Jenny Ridgway orchestrated the defence and put the game back on track, but not before the Tigers lead had been cut to 41 – 38, and injuries to Laura Dyke and Hanna Byrne had deprived Tigers of their services.
The last quarter was a tense affair as Storm continued to nibble at the Tigers lead. Some strong defence by Hannah Maddocks was rewarded with good looks for the team inside. Early foul trouble by Storm sent the Watkins twins to the line 4 times going down the stretch; another 3 point shot by Gowing put Storm back into contention; a 3 point attempt blocked out by Jenny Ridgway; and a fine pair of passing moves finished off in style by Emily Farthing, allowed Tigers to seal the win and secure the game 55 – 49.
Tigers coach, Steve Green commented after the game,
“This was a great first win of the season for the girls and an excellent team effort in a tough game for us. The new faces in Bristols team were something of a surprise for us, but we coped well with what they presented to us. It was unfortunate that we picked up a few injuries, but we have a couple of weeks to get over these, before we face Bristol again in the Trophy in a couple of weeks time.”
The Tigers next play away in the National Trophy against Bristol Storm on Saturday 18th October. They then play their first home league game of the season against UWIC on Sunday 19th October at Wellsprings, tip off 2pm.