Paulton's Tomahawks took to the court on Saturday, 3rd November with a new team line-up having been reselected at training for tactical reasons. The new squad of eight positively took to the indoor court on
Saturday looking for a strong team performance, knowing that they were playing one of the most experienced teams in the Premier
Division, Babylon. The match started at a quick tempo with Babylon keen to mark their dominance. However, Davina at GS, Cheryl GA, Hayley WA and Jade at C gelled quickly in attack, with patient and effective passing paying off to score some impressive goals. The first quarter finished 14 – 6 to Babylon.
After a motivating team talk and the first of many changes, with Darby coming on at WA to replace Hayley, the team came out fighting with Victoria swapping back to GD and Charlotte at GK to unbalance Babylon's unstoppable shooters.
With Paulton's defence now overturning Babylon's attacking play, they were able to feed off each other, moving the ball quickly down court with Ness at WD linking up well with Jade to secure possession. With Davina and Cheryl now outplaying their defenders and team confidence on a high, the squad was able to win the quarter by four goals finishing 24 – 20.
At half-time, the girls remained focused on the task in hand knowing that they had Babylon shaken. Another team change saw Ness and Hayley swap at WD and the team went back on to the court with the focus to remain on coming forward for the ball.
Unfortunately for Paulton, Babylon came out fighting. Despite some excellent across the court play from the Paulton defence securing vital rebounds to interceptions by all players working hard to remain in the game.
Unfortunately, despite Jade and Darby linking up well to find Cheryl and Davina in the circle, Babylon were too dominent across the court, forcing the team to make mistakes. The quarter finished 41 – 25.
The final quarter saw Cheryl move back to GK, with Charlotte moving out to WD and Hayley swapping with Jade at C.
The team once again took to the court with determination to fight for a point and to start building the foundations for the rest of the season. Once again the team worked hard chasing loose balls, marking passes and reading the ball to intercept some great on-the-move runs by Babylon. Sisters, Darby and Davina, also proved that their strong partnership continues to work in the higher division with them linking up well with Ness at WA.
Unfortunately, the squad lost 55 – 30, a slight improvement on the last time they played the team. Overall the team left the court pleased with their first outing as a new squad of eight with positives to take away and areas to work on to secure their first win.