After a disappointing night less than 24 hours earlier when they lost to Leicester Riders on their home court the Seriös Group Newcastle Eagles were on the road to Nottingham for another Women’s British Basketball League clash.

They faced a Wildcats side that had an identical record on 3 wins and 8 loses but a side that had defeated the Eagles 79 – 74 in the Vertu Motors Arena back in early January knocking Newcastle out of the Betty Cordona Trophy.

But it was Newcastle that extracted revenge on the night taking an excellent road win by a 16-point margin. It was a good all-round team performance with all those that could on court contributing but non more so than Tierra Hodges, Abby Lowe and new singing Jada Dapaa.

It was the home side that made the better start clawing their way to a 5 – 0 lead before Newcastle with Tierra Hodges and Marina Fernandez getting going answered with eight points to take their first lead. Wildcats though came back to lead by one.

But Newcastle finished the first period the stronger closing it out with a 6 – 0 run that gave them a five-point lead to take into the second period. They then scored the first six points to open the period giving them their first double digit lead of the night.

Then with good aggressive defence kicking in from the Eagles they forced turnovers a-plenty from the home side which enabled them to control the flow and tempo of the second period where the difference was established.

A mid-to-late 14 points to 2 run enabling them to take a 17-point lead at one stage as they increased the advantage to lead by 43 points to 29 as the two sides went to the locker rooms.

Coming out from the tactical talks Nottingham really needed to respond quickly if they were to get back in the game and they did. Eight points straight from the start of the half saw them eventually cut the Eagles lead back to five.

But, Head Coach Matt Newby’s side rallied, steadied their ship and pushed on again. Dapaa, Hodges and Lowe in particular being extremely effective and helping to combine for a 17 – 6 close to the quarter and opening their lead to 18-points.

In the fourth Newcastle started well and made the game safe with that start as they forged to their biggest lead of 24 points at 76 to 52. Nottingham did rally towards the end of the game but by then Newcastle had already done enough.

It was only the Eagles fourth league win of the season. They will be delighted though to have bounced back from the loss at home to Leicester to take such a good win over a play-off rival.

Newcastle had five players in double figures with Katie Nolan and Marina Fernandez adding to the firepower of their front three scorers one of which was Dapaa who in only her second game for the Club led her side in scoring.

It was a performance that showed Newcastle can play at both ends of the floor and one where they showed up for the full forty minutes and reaped the reward. It was a performance that they had threatened in previous games and finally delivered.

Coming after dropping the Leicester game by 77 – 57 which included a final five-minute spell where Riders scored 21 unanswered points to turn that game around it was good to see that Newcastle were able to shrug that defeat off and bounce back in style.