Severn Stars Head Coach, Jo Trip, says her team are going from strength to strength, but knows a big test awaits in the shape of Loughborough Lightning this weekend.

Reigning Netball Super League champions Lightning currently sit one place above Stars, so the match will see second take on third. The teams will go head-to-head at the University of Worcester Arena on Saturday (April 13) at 6pm.

“The team is going from strength to strength with another great win on the board. A really pleasing performance saw us put out what we had practiced in the week and be rewarded for it. We have been scouting Loughborough Lightning this week and coming up with a plan around what we want to put out against them. We will continue to work on playing with freedom, running strong lines, being purposeful in everything we do and increasing our intensity on defence across the full 60 minutes.

“I love seeing the girls be able to showcase their hard work week to week and really do believe we have the best fans! We look forward to seeing them all again this week when we come up against Loughborough Lightning – another big test with our home crowd right behind us.”

Despite six wins on the board already, just one short of their total wins for the whole of last season, Trip says as a team they will not be looking too far ahead.

“We are only ever focused on the next game,” she added. “One game at a time. We cannot and will not get ahead of ourselves. We have come out and stated our intent to be in the top 4, and I do believe that week in – week out we are continuing to build to this. We do not take any team lightly and know it will take a lot of hard work over the coming months to make sure we achieve our goal.”

Stars thrilled their home fans with an impressive display and near faultless second half that saw them take the win against Surrey Storm on Sunday (April 7), 72-55. The home side found themselves 3-5 down within the opening minutes of the encounter after a missed shot in the shooting circle was capitalised on by the opposition, but Stars quickly came back to level the match 5-5 then proceeded to take the lead and were three up at the end of the first quarter, 18-15.

That lead was quickly extended in the second half with Stars ahead by six goals, but this soon became a healthy lead of nine and then 11 by the half-time interval, 38-27, thanks to a number of turnovers, including some key interceptions by the Stars defence.

The second half continued equally positively. Mid-courter Jess Shaw and goal attack Suzie Liverseidge used a quick me-to-you down the court to find goal shooter Sigi Burger under the post, moving the scoreline to 49-37. Stars defender Jas Brown made another interception to the delight of the crowd. Not to be outdone, player/coach Trip followed shortly after with her own interception. By the end of the third quarter Stars had a healthy lead at 57-38.

Trip rang the changes for the last 15 minutes, bringing on Lefébre Rademan and Ashleigh Dekker in attack and Bekah Airey in defence. A number of turnovers in quick succession helped Stars extend their lead, including several interceptions from Airey, and put the game out of sight finishing 72-55.

“We knew it would be a tough game and that we had to be at our best,” said Trip. “We stuck to structure for longer and had great variety on attack. In the second quarter we only made two errors which allowed us to really put pressure on the scoreline and that was huge for us!

“It was super exciting to perform on court in front of another sold out crowd! After three away games on the trot, it was nice to be back in our changing rooms and home arena in front of our fans, families and friends.”

For tickets or more information, visit the Severn Stars website: https://www.severnstars.co.uk/.