Tornadoes match was a tale of two halves. It all began at 8:45 on a cold bleak (almost) winter night, as the team arrived and made our way to the hall. Jen and Lucy arrived just in time for a quick warm up and nervous pee and then the time had come. The court was set up and everyone was raring to go!

The first quarter was solid from the Tornadoes, 9-7 to them, close much improved from last week. Balls were flying and the Tornadoes were causing a storm, a few silly turn overs but nothing we couldn’t handle.

The second quarter was much the same, the ball whizzing up and down the court, interceptions were given and taken, players getting dizzy from all the 180 degree rotations in play. The score increased marginally against us but we still had faith when the buzzer sounded.

Bring on quarter three, this was the fork in the road and we ended up on  the wrong winding path, drive turned to frustration and cracks began to deepen. The game still seemed level, if the score was hidden you could easily assume that the score was close - the atmosphere was tight and tense. Balls were still whizzing, interceptions still dominating the middle court. The only difference was their miracle child of a shooter who could have easily gotten the ball in from the centre third the way she was going, and the pesky tall defenders against us! Any rebound that could have easily been ours in another game was slammed off court by their defenders purely due to their additional height.

The fourth quarter deepened their lead, frustratingly though the game still looked even and tight yet the score was not reflecting this. Without their shooter they would have been 20 goals short and we could have won by a fair few but that’s the ‘beauty’ of sport - one player can quite literally change a game.

Notable mentions include, Karen’s rather elegant and controlled plop to the floor mid game, Aimee attempting a bounce pass yet landing it on the receiver - something the Tornadoes seem to be good at. Emily displaying her finest pivoting technique that any year 7 would be proud of, and Lucy for forgetting she was C midway through the 4th quarter and Aimee having to remind me that her that you can go into all thirds, and apparently displaying her most laudable cricket techniques - surprisingly not rugby this week!