Netball Superleague 2021: Loughborough Lightning beat Team Bath in final

Lightning have never won the Superleague before after 16 years in the competition

Loughborough Lightning won their first Superleague title as they beat Team Bath 49-32 in a thrilling Grand Final.

It was a dominant display from Lightning, who beat league newcomers Leeds Rhinos in the semi-final on Saturday.

Lightning had featured in the final three times before but never won it.

There were 1,000 fans at the Grand Final at London's Copper Box Arena, 771 days after the last one was won by Manchester Thunder.

Lightning captain Natalie Panagarry threw the ball straight out of court on their first centre pass as a fraught opening few minutes with some nerves evident on both sides culminating in basic errors.

Bath, who beat defending champions Manchester Thunder in their semi-final, have not featured in a final since 2013 and were well beaten by Lightning in the last game of the regular season, finishing third while Lightning took top spot.

A crucial interception from Loughborough's Sam May, who announced her retirement this week, led to Lightning opening up a 11-7 lead after the first quarter.

Bath's Rachel Shaw struggled against player of the season Beth Cobden in mid-court but shooters Kim Borger and Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, the most accurate shooting partnership in the league, attempted to claw their way back into the game.

A rare miss from Drakeford-Lewis with one minute left before half-time swung the momentum in Lightning's favour and a perfectly placed long pass from Hannah Joseph found the league's top shooter Mary Cholhok, who stretched her side's lead to eight goals heading into half-time.

Bath looked panicked and, with Panagarry continuing to win the battle over England team-mate and Bath centre Serena Guthrie, they struggled to find the answers.

Lightning led 31-23 going into the final quarter, leaving a mountain for five-time champions Bath to climb in 12 minutes.

Lightning continued to add to their lead though as Panagarry and Cobden, who returned this season after an Achilles injury, connected with ease.

As the clock ran down, Bath knew it was out of their hands and the team who had led the league for much of the season fizzled out.

A bullet pass fired in to Cholhok in the last second of the match was a fitting way to end a commanding performance from Lightning, taking her side to 49-32, just the second time a team has won the final by more than 15 goals.

Francis-Bayman, in only her second full season in charge of the Loughborough side, said they had managed to "shake not just the monkey but the King Kong" off their back.

"We never let them get too close to us - the girls have been on it, yesterday we were nervy but today we were composed."

Captain Panagarry said: "We're overwhelmed, there's so many emotions - it's great to finally get over the finishing line.

"We were calm, patient with the ball, it was a battle but once we had that lead we felt we had control.

"It's felt like unfinished business. Lightning have made me the player I am and lots of people wrote us off at the start of the season and thought we wouldn't even make top four but we have proved them wrong."

Thunder finish third

Thunder faced league newcomers Rhinos in a close contest for third place as a curtain-raiser to the Grand Final.

The Yorkshire-based franchise held the three-time champions at bay for three quarters, trailing by two goals going into the final period.

But Thunder, buoyed by a cluster of travelling fans, pulled away in the final 12 minutes to eventually win 43-34.

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