In all the defeats against Div 2 opposition, Tigers have dominated the opposition in segments of each game, but have not sustained pressure throughout and, whilst scoring more freely, have disturbingly continually leaked valuable points at the defensive end.
The away trip against Solent Suns was a real disappointment, particularly given the Tigers excellent start to the season, with the Tigers only being able to raise 7 players for the game, including the returning Laura Dyke following her ankle injury. Abby Pow kitted up, despite injury, to lend valued support to her colleagues — well done Abby, your effort was really appreciated by the team. Tigers players knew they were in for a difficult game, particularly as the Suns had also made an excellent start to the season and because they fielded 4 players fresh from first team action against Manchester Mystics.
The Tigers got off to a great start and exchanged early baskets with the Suns to draw the 1st quarter 13 points apiece. Early fouls against Laura Dyke and Emily Farthing in the 2nd quarter did not help the Tigers cause, nor did the uncharacteristic turn-overs from normally dependent players as Suns started to fashion an early lead with a full bench rotation. Tigers cause was not helped by some indifferent refereeing, which allowed constant fouling by the Suns in mid-court to go unpunished throughout, as Tigers took a 37 – 28 lead into the half time break.
Much of the same followed as Suns extended their lead to 59 – 44 at the end of the 3rd quarter. To their great credit, despite Laura Dyke and Emily Farthing fouling out, the 5 remaining Tigers players took the game to Suns throughout the last quarter, taking the quarter 23 – 22, but losing the game 81 – 67. Jenny Ridgway and Hannah Watkins led all the scorers on the day with 21 and 19 points respectively as the girls ended up with a 2 year high of 67 points. This was an excellent performance by all who played — we will certainly be looking to reverse this result when we have a full bench during Suns visit to Wellsprings in December.