She said: "It was an awesome game by the whole squad, the combination finally clicked and I was really pleased with the whole team defence."

Denise Egan was satisfied with being able to play her entire squad. She added: "Bath came out very strong from the outset. They showed speed through the court that some of our players found difficult.

"We played well in terms of circle defence. We got lots of turnover as a defensive unit, but didn’t manage to convert against Bath.

"We wanted to take the opportunity to play our entire squad to see how they performed under pressure in preparation for our next week’s game against Brunel Hurricanes - a game we really need to win.’

Tonight’s clash between Team Northumbria and Team Bath can be seen on Sky Sports on Thursday night.

STARTING LINE UPS

Team Northumbria
GS: Carla Dziwoki
GA: Talei Bari
WA: Jenny Montgomery
C:    Tessa Burton
WD: Natalie Connor
GD: Abi Ryan
GK: Emma Lower

Team Bath
GS: Pamela Cookey
GA: Tamsin Greenway
WA: Sasha Corbin
C:    Sara Bayman
WD: Serena Guthrie
GD: Gemma Fletcher
GK: Eboni Beckford-Chambers

SHOOTING STATS

Team Northumbria
C.Dziwoki: 13/20, 65%
T. Bari: 1/3, 33%
E. Lower: 5/7, 71%     
L. Bowman: 8/10, 80%
V.Phillips: 2/4, 50%        
               
Overall Team: 29/44, 66%
                     
Team Bath
P.Cookey: 38/40, 95%
T.Greenway: 16/24, 67%
K.Delves: 9/14, 64%

Overall Team:  63/78, 80%

UMPIRES: Jo Kelly / Heather Gleadhall

SCORES (TN/TB): 5/18   12/31   25/50   29/63