Lightning beat Dragons to reach semi-finals
Defending champions Loughborough Lightning booked their place in the Netball Super League semi-finals with a 47-68 win over Cardiff Dragons.
The visitors proved too strong for the Welsh side, who have had a tricky few weeks.
Lightning's Mary Cholhok impressed in front of goal amid costly Dragons errors and the visitors led 17-12 at the end of the first quarter.
The hosts hit back in the second with Georgia Rowe prominent, but trailed 33-21 going into the third quarter as Rhea Dixon and Cholhok combined well.
Dragons captain Nia Jones urged her side to be more “disciplined” as Lightning extended their lead to 51-34 and the visitors went on to seal victory.
Lightning head coach Vic Burgess said: "I thought it was a really solid performance. Ultimately we are trying to solidify our position in top four and keep pushing on and keep winning, which we managed to do today and I’m really happy.
"It’s obviously a process, that was one of our first aims, when you’re really looking at each game as it comes your first thing is to actually achieve top four so we can tick that off the list and the next one is to keep on winning and preparing as much as we can for semi-finals and finals, hopefully."
Dragons head coach Jill McIntosh said: "We were pleased overall. Last time we played Loughborough it was very one-sided, today we were in the contest each quarter and I thought we battled hard. Probably our own mistakes blew the score out to the 21, but overall much happier - it was a much more consistent effort."
In Saturday's other game Severn Stars won in comfortable fashion, beating hosts Surrey Storm 69-42.
On Friday semi-finalists Manchester Thunder stretched their winning run to eight matches with a 62-52 win over Saracens Mavericks.
Thunder had become the first team to book their place in the last four with victory over Dragons last Saturday, opened up a 15-13 lead despite a slow start in the first quarter.
Mavericks continued to pose a threat in possession but Thunder began to take greater control as the game wore on, winning the third quarter 16-9 to break the visitors' resolve.
Manchester Thunder head coach Karen Greig told BBC Sport: "I asked the girls to be ruthless and I don’t think we were.
"We started very slowly and we didn’t adapt quick enough to how Mavericks came at us. When we started doing that we really started exposing them.
"Historically games against Mavericks have always been a tough grind and it was the same again tonight."
Elmere van der Berg top scored with 41 goals as the hosts remain in pole position to end the league season in first place and secure a home semi-final.
Elsewhere, London Pulse claimed an impressive 63-45 victory at Strathclyde Sirens to strengthen their grip on third place.
Pulse won every quarter to move a step closer to securing their place in the semi-finals.
Leeds Rhinos, meanwhile, maintained their bid for a top-four finish with a 65-50 win over Team Bath.
Leeds moved up to fifth in the table, six points behind fourth-place Severn Stars.
