Loughborough Lightning continued their hunt for a historic three-peat as they beat Manchester Thunder 69-57 in the Netball Super League Preliminary Final to book their spot in the Grand Final.
Defending champions Lightning, who were beaten by Pulse last week, made a comeback in the Preliminary Final as they came from behind to register their win on Sunday.
Thunder made it to 19-12 after the first quarter, but Lightning didn’t let the pressure get to them as they made a roaring comeback in the second.
Lightning’s defender Jodie Gibson converted five two-point super shots during the second quarter as she helped her side fight to a 37-30 lead by half-time.
Thunder then decided they needed to regroup and called a tactical timeout when they were 44-33 down, but they were unable to as Lightning continued their hold.
The reigning champions led 52-40 heading into the final quarter as they stayed clear to book a rematch with London Pulse in next Sunday’s Grand Final at London’s O2 Arena, live on Sky Sports.
Player of the Match, Lightning’s Alice Harvey said: “It means so much. Last week’s loss hurt and I think we felt that in training this week.
“That was a performance we were proud of, and we showed grit.
“We were different today, and I would say never underestimate a Lightning bounce back, we’re very good at that. We took individual accountability, and we really want to do the three-peat. Our performance today showed just that.”
Manchester head coach Karen Greig said her team weren’t good enough for long enough during the match.
“We wanted four consistent quarters and we just didn’t have that in us tonight,” she told Sky Sports.
“We had a strong first quarter but there was a point in the second quarter when we were just passengers on the court.”