It was victories for the A, D, E (Under 16s), E and F teams in the Met League On Saturday.
Essex Open enjoyed a successful Saturday in the Met League winning 5 games out of 7.
The A team enjoyed a 63-51 win over Leyton A to set up a final match decider to win the division 1 championship. The first quarter was very finely balanced. Essex were having numerous chances to score which were well taken by Leah Hayzelden and Maddie Oshodi. However at the other end Leyton were also finding goals easy to come by. The first quarter was very tight and with a few minutes left Essex led 14-13. 3 quick goals saw Essex take a 17-13 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter was very evenly contested. In truth the game was littered with mistakes. Leyton edged the quarter reducing the deficit by 1. In truth if they had taken their chances they could have gone in front. at half time Essex led 2-25.

After half time Essex slightly edged it having periods where they scored a number of goals in quick succession. With a quarter to go Essex led 46-38.
At the start of the last quarter Essex took the game away from Leyton and ended up with a comfortable 63-51 victory.

Linehan, Thorogood, Alves, Biss, Mead, Hayzelden and Oshodi

Essex Open B suffered an agonising 56 – 55 defeat in a match which they really should have won. The first quarter was very evenly contested and with time running out Essex led 14-13, but they lost concentration towards the end of it and Manor scored 4 goals with a single response from Essex to see them leading 18-15 in front.
Essex played very well in the second quarter. the centre court was being dominated by Olivia Edwards, Sarah Braiden and Rebecca Mead. Essex turned a 3 goal deficit into 4 goal advantage to lead32-28 at the break.
Manor started the third quarter well with and midway through the quarter hdr reduced the deficit to 1 as they trailed Essex 40-39.the rest of the quarter saw both teams matching each other goal for goal and going into the last quarter Essex led 44-43.
Essex started the last quarter well scoring 3 goals without response to lead 47-43. Both teams then matched each other goal for goal as Essex maintained a 4 goal lead to go 50-46 in front. As has been the case in recent weeks Essex failed to manage the game. in the next10 minutes Essex made numerous mistakes and allowed Manor A to take control at a crucial time with less than 2 minutes to go Manor took the lead. Essex then scored off the Manor centre to bring the deficit back to 1. Essex had centre pass but were not able to get the ball into the Manor circle so suffered defeat in a game they should have won.

Essex Open C suffered a 57-41 defeat to table topping New Cambell Red but have finished 5th in the league.
Essex Open D defeated Phoenix Flames 24-16 to finish 3rd in the table. However Essex Open D (Under 16s) won division 5 winning all 13 games to date defeating Foxes 1’s 57-31.
Both the E and F teams were also victorious. The E team defeated Sapphire D 48-25 and the F team beat Manor Met G 46-31.