THERE were some big wins on show over the weekend in the Netball Super League (NSL) as some teams made the most of a mismatch in ability to bank some goal difference.

One such game was the one between Leeds and Loughborough, which finished 63 goals to 49 in favour of the Lightning.

It was looking like it was going to be a much tighter result for much of the match, but the Rhinos fell away late, handing the Lightning the win.

Thanks to a clever defensive intercept, it was the Lightning who pinched a goal off the first centre pass before consolidating off their first centre pass.

However the Rhinos then picked up the next three goals to take the lead from their hosts. The lead then changed again several times as the quarter progressed, but crucially for the Rhinos the they were the ones to hold it for much of the quarter.

The Rhinos were able to move down court much quicker than the Lightning were, which helped them maintain their lead, which got as high as five goals.

However, a late flurry of goals from the Lightning saw the margin down to only two goals in favour of the Rhinos.

Leeds reinstated a four goal lead quickly in the opening minutes of the second term, and even extended it out to six goals. But it was not too long before the Lightning kicked back into gear and suddenly the margin was back down to one, and then the Lightning were able to draw level again.

The Rhinos then stemmed the tide and built a lead again, getting out to roughly four goals in front again, but another late fightback from the Lightning saw the margin back down to one at the main break.  

Much like the second quarter the Rhinos streaked ahead early in the third quarter before Loughborough worked its way back into the game and dropped the margin back to one, and then level with just over six minutes to go, and the lead one centre pass later.

This started a bit of a run for the home side, which saw them take a four goal lead into the final change.

Unfortunately for Leeds, it was unable to turn around the run from the Lightning, and things went from bad to worse.

The Lightning piled on 18 goals to eight in the final term to run out easy winners.

For the Lightning it was Natalie Panagarry (22 feeds, three intercepts) and Fran Williams (three rebounds, four intercepts, four deflections) who starred, while Elle McDonald (20 feeds and an intercept) was everyone for the Rhinos in arguably their most frustrating loss to date this season.

In other results:

• The Sirens picked up their second win of the season with a dominant win over the Mavericks, which was their biggest win since 2017.

Although scores were tied at quarter time, a 19 goal to eight second quarter and 21 goal to 14 third quarter from the Sirens blew the game open and saw them go on and take the win.

Bethan Goodwin (50 goals, four rebounds, five feeds) absolutely starred for the Sirens, as did Bethany Dix (45 feeds, three deflections).

Meanwhile for the Mavericks Jodie Gibson was the star, finishing with two feeds, three rebounds, two intercepts and a deflection.

• Manchester started off its busy weekend with a comfortable nine goal win over Team Bath.

The game started evenly, but after a run of seven unanswered goals in the opening term to the Thunder it was a sign of things to come.

Lenize Potgieter (53 goals, one rebound, two feeds) was a star in front of goals for the Thunder, while Natalie Metcalf (50 feeds, one intercept) and Iona Christian (40 feeds, one intercept) were industrious through mid court.

Meanwhile for Bath Jayda Pechova (six deflections, one intercept, one rebound, one feed) was particularly impressive for Bath.

• On Saturday the Thunder made it two for two for the weekend with a seven goal win over the Severn Stars.

The Stars actually led at quarter time, but then the Thunder turned it around in the second to square it all up. It was not until a 22 goal to 10 final quarter from the Thunder that the game really started to open up.

Potgeiter (42 goals from 43 attempts) and a rebound) and Metcalf (31 feeds, eight goals, two deflections) had a great game again for the Thunder.

Meanwhile for the Stars Sigrid Burger (47 goals) had a good afternoon under the ring, while Jessica Shaw (32 feeds) was certainly busy through midcourt.

• Surrey Storm piled on the pain on the Celtic Dragons to ultimately win by 28 goals.

The win was catapulted by a 22 goal to nine first quarter from the Storm, and they never looked back from there.

Surrey’s defenders, namely Layla Guscoth (six deflections, two intercepts, two rebounds) and Leah Middleton (seven deflections, one intercept, four rebounds) were rocks in the win.

Meanwhile Shaquanda Greene-Noel (six intercepts, four deflections) and Shona O’Dwyer (21 feeds) both played well for the Dragons.