Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
From the start York once again dominated a league rival, taking control of the game from the start and staying in front with ease throughout. Claire Dinan, Marta Marščionkaitė and Kate Smith all had outstanding personal games and their combined point totals completely eclipsed Newcastle, never mind the rest of the team’s achievements.
At the start of the first quarter York quickly scored and continued in similar fashion. Dinan returned to her form at the start of the season, scoring eight points during the quarter, stealing the ball four times, and, working with shooting guard Lydie Mauritto, established the strong York offence that stayed throughout the game. Smith played aggressively, scoring six points, taking two steals, and getting two blocks during the quarter, her strongest start this season. There were momentary sparks in Newcastle’s offence with their shooting guard showing technique and skill far beyond that of her team mates, repeatedly attacking the basket, but to no avail as the quarter finished York 26 – Newcastle 8.
The second quarter continued in similar fashion as the first. Marščionkaitė, already on four points, added another four to her total and effectively shut down any attack through the centre by Newcastle. Dinan and Smith continued their scoring throughout the second whilst Mauritto became increasingly frustrated with her apparent inability to score, showing her personal motivation, she has to play well even when they were ahead by a decisive margin. Newcastle did manage to score four more baskets but the half finished with York ahead 40 – 16.
The third quarter began with the women's team playing to their strengths, constantly feeding the ball to Marščionkaitė as she couldn’t stop scoring, and using good passing to create open lanes for Mauritto to attack with her strong drive. Newcastle did begin to call plays on offence but it was already too late for this to have much of an impact on the lead. This rally was cut short when an accidental collision between Smith and Newcastle’s shooting guard rendered the shooting guard injured for the rest of the match. Without their star player Newcastle quickly fell apart. The quarter ended with York increasing their lead 60 – 25.
The final quarter continued with the same methodical scoring as the previous three. A prominent trait of the women’s team, this constant attention to detail often prompts them to practice their technique in preparation for more competitive games. In this game they did exactly that, especially a frustrated Mauritto, who decided to up the pace by stealing the ball five times from the opposition and grabbing an offensive rebound. Marščionkaitė continued her relentless scoring, as did Dinan, whilst Smith was content to steal the ball only once. Although the points haul by the Women’s team was impressive their most outstanding accomplishment of the game was the number of steals they took. Dinan finished the game with ten steals, followed by Mauritto on seven, Smith on four and Katherine Missenden on three. Completely outplaying their opponents from start to finish, York went from strength to strength and seem to be destined for success this season. The game finished a decisive 83 – 29 in York’s favour.
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