Wallace-Joseph keeps Lightning perfect in NSL

2026-03-24 - 00:25

National netballer Samantha Wallace-Joseph continued her dominance of opposing defenders as she scored 43 goals to lead three-time champions Loughborough Lightning to a hard-fought 66-58 win over London Mavericks for their fourth straight victory in the England Netball Super League (NSL) on Sunday. Playing at Essex Sports Arena, Colchester, England, the 32-year-old Wallace-Joseph scored five of six attempts and one of two Amex Super Shots (two goals) in the first period while Ella Clark added four of four attempts, and a perfect two super shots as Lightning ended the first 15-minute period locked at 15-15 with Mavericks, who had George Inger’s six of seven attempts, and Emma Thacker with three of three regular shot, and three perfect super shots. In the second quarter, Wallace-Joseph was again solid for Lightning with eight goals from nine attempts, and one super shot while Clark continued her 100 per cent scoring, with three goals, and one super shot as they edged the quarter 15-13 for a 30-28 half-time lead after limiting Inger to nine goals, and Thacker with two goals and one super shot. The tight contest between both teams continued throughout the third quarter with Wallace-Joseph improving her range for a perfect six from six and three from three super shots for 12 points, while Clarke added two goals, and substitute Berri Neil, one. However, Mavericks was equal to the task in the quarter, also scoring 15 goals through Inger’s 11 of 12 shooting and Thacker’s four goals to set up an intriguing final quarter. But any hopes of Mavericks clawing their way back in the final period was dashed very early with Wallace-Joseph taking control scoring a perfect ten goals while adding two of three super shots while Neil provided good support with five goals and one super shot as they outplayed Mavericks 21-15 with Emily Andrew converting four of four and two of three super shots, and Thacker three from three and two super shots in their 15 goal tally. In the end, Wallace-Joseph tallied 29 goals from 31 attempts, and seven of 11 super shots, while Clarke added nine of nine and three of three super shots, and Neil six of seven, together with one from two super shots in the win. For Mavericks, Inger ended with 26 goals from 28 attempts, Thacker got 12 of 13, and six of 11 super shots, and Andrew got four of four and two of three super shots. On the season, Wallace-Joseph has now scored a combined 155 goals from 178 attempts, comprising 118 and 128 goals along with 37 of 50 super shots, only behind Nottingham Forest’s Rolene Streutker’s 157 combined goals, which include 117 from 128 regular goals and 40 of 54 super shots. With their fourth straight win to start the season, Loughborough Lightning improved to a maximum of 12 points, two more than Manchester Thunder and London Mavericks (3-1), while defending champions London Pulse sits fourth with a 3-1 record as well but nine points. In the other Round Three matches, Manchester Thunder claimed a 58-48 victory over winless Birmingham Panthers, who sit bottom of the table after four matches while Cardiff-based LexisNexis Dragons clinched their first win of the campaign with a 62-51 victory over Leeds Rhinos and London Pulse won 73-63 in extra-time over Nottingham Forest after the scores were level at 53- all at the end of regulation time. Next up for three-time Wallace-Joseph, a former Mavericks player during her first stint in England, nine years ago, and her Lightning teammates is a home encounter against Panthers on March 28. Last year in her first campaign with Lightning, Wallace-Joseph played 11 matches and scored 272 goals at 91 per cent accuracy as they ended as runners-up to London Pulse, missing out on adding to their previous title wins in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Back in 2016 as a member of the then Hertfordshire Mavericks, Wallace-Joseph was voted the ‘MVP’ winner in England after she scored 438 goals from 491 attempts, second only to Storm’s England international Rachel Dunn’s 474 goals from 560 attempts. She was also voted the Mavericks’ “MVP”, “Fans Favourite”, and “Coaches Award” winner all in her first and only season with the club after which she joined Suncorp Australian Super Netball League’s New South Wales Swifts where she was a three-time NSW Swifts “Most Valuable Player” (MVP) award recipient, and the 2019 Grand Final ‘MVP’ while playing a starring role in two Swifts Premiership-winning campaigns (2019 & 2021). Current Netball Super League standings Pos*Teams*P*W*L*GF*GA*GD*Bonus Pts*Pts 1. Loughborough Lightning*4*4*0*279*222*57*0*12 2. Manchester Thunder*4*3*1*247*218*29*1*10 3. Nottingham Forest*4*3*1*252*241*11*1*10 4. London Pulse*4*3*1*241*232*9*0*9 5. London Mavericks*4*1*3*252*244*8*1*4 6. LexisNexis Dragons*4*1*3*227*246*-19*1*4 7. Leeds Rhinos*4*1*3*199*232*-33*0*3 8. Birmingham Panthers*4*0*4*194*256*-62*0*0