By Tom Lea
USW Women’s 1st Netball recovered from a four-goal half-time deficit to beat rivals Cardiff Met 4th 53-43.
Meg Jones inspired the hosts to victory with 37 goals and Natasha Cowell added 16 goals of her own.
Carys Winstone lead the scoring for the visitors with 29, while Emily Brooks and Tamara Pitt added five and nine respectively.
The first quarter was a tense affair which the visitors shaded 14-13 with Winstone scoring nine and Brooks five while Jones scored nine of her own and Cowell added four in reply.
In the second quarter, Met threatened to run away with the game as Winstone chalked up another nine and Pitt got her first five goals to give Met a four-goal lead at the break. Jones and Cowell responded with eight goals and three goals for USW to make it 28-24.
The hosts closed the gap back to one point in the third quarter with Jones grabbing another nine goals and Cowell a further four while Winstone got a further eight goals for her personal tally and Pitt added two.
In the final quarter, the hosts established the lead that their performance deserved.
Jones delivered her most prolific quarter of the game with 11 goals while Cowell added five more as the hosts pulled away.
Winstone grabbed three final goals and Pitt two as the Met attack were restricted to only 15 in the second half.
Rhiannon Maggs, Cadie Baldwin and Holly Griffiths put in a fantastic defensive performance to restrict the visitors in the second half, while centre Aggie Farlow-Hoare carried the ball fantastically to supply the potent front two for the hosts.