Chloe Gaynor’s Newcastle Eagles made if four wins from four under her stewardship with a superb defensive display that set-up a very convincing road win down in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles improving their League record to 4 wins and a single loss as they continue their great run.

Victory for the Eagles not only improves their league standings going into the turn of the year, but also propels them to the semi-finals of the Women’s SLB Cup.

The final four of the Cup competition having been decided on win percentage from Championship games puts an away trip to Sheffield Hatters in the new year on the cards.

Saturday’s win was all the more impressive considering it was achieved without November’s SLB Women’s Player of the Month in Jada Guinn who missed the game through injury. Kendall Currence stepping up from the bench to cover her fellow USA rookie’s starting spot to great effect.

Gaynor also had the luxury of not needing to play any minutes herself thanks to the way her players performed throughout the 40 minutes. Not surprisingly Newcastle swept all four quarters as once they got in front they stretched their lead right to the final buzzer.

In fact such was Newcastle’s dominance that Cardiff never once got in front nor rarely troubled a Newcastle side whom Gaynor gave significant in-game minutes to all her charges at hand save herself. It made for a nice spread of scoring with all making contributions.

The Met Archers simply had not answer to Newcastle’s superior all-round game which showed big numbers across the board as the swept to an emphatic victory. If one statistic did jump out of the score sheet it was almost certainly the 32 turn overs Newcastle forced out of their hosts.

They scored 24 points off those turnovers showing a clinical attention to defence to lock down Cardiff throughout the entire contest whilst reaping the rewards for their defensive efforts with some neat offensive displays to cement a very solid road win.

Cardiff indeed never led the game at any stage. Early on the home side stayed in the game levelling the score twice in the first period. Firstly at 2 – 2 then when Eagles threatened to run away and had scored six points in a row the Met Archers again doing well to battle back to 10-points all.

That was when Newcastle made their first run. Zoe Willis coming off the bench to great effect and with Currence in the groove the Eagles scored nine points unanswered in the last 3 minutes to take the first period by 19 points to 10 and effectively sealing the deal with still 30 minutes to play.

Met Archers stayed with Newcastle in the second period and inside the final minute of the half Newcastle courtesy of a 5 – 0 run to the end of the half took their overall lead past the double figure gap.

Eagles came soaring out of the locker rooms for the start of the third period. Leading scorer Tierra Hodges coming to the fore as she dominated inside knocking down crucial scores as well as grabbing numerous rebounds on her way to a double-double as Newcastle scored 15 unanswered points.

That was the run that broke the game completely open with ex-Archers Lauren Saiki and Shannon Hatch getting in on the act as well to help shoot their old side done and make their return to their former stamping ground a very enjoyable experience.

This was the perfect way for Gaynor and her players to go into the festive season in great heart, full of cheer and plenty to look forward to in the New Year.