Lightning beat Panthers to extend 100% start

Loughborough Lightning extended their 100% start to the Netball Super League season with an 83-69 victory against bottom side Birmingham Panthers.

Samantha Wallace-Joseph scored 35 goals for Lightning, who have won their first five matches to establish a three-point lead at the top of the table.

"It can be hard [being unbeaten] because all the teams are coming for us," the Trinidad and Tobago goal shooter told BBC Sport.

"It's just about keeping our consistency going, gelling together and executing the game plan."

Panthers have lost their first five league matches of the campaign, each by a margin of at least 10, but they put up their biggest tally of goals in a match this season in a performance that pleased head coach Sonia Mkoloma.

"It wasn't just the biggest score - I thought we stayed in it for longer," Mkoloma told BBC Sport.

"We were competitive across four quarters, which we haven't been, so I'm proud of them. I asked them to be competitive in this game and they stayed in it."

Lightning's next opponents on 4 April are Manchester Thunder, who are second in the table thanks to a 78-53 win against Nottingham Forest.

England's Eleanor Cardwell contributed 39 goals for Thunder.

London Mavericks were Saturday's other winners, George Inger top-scoring with 35 goals in a 58-54 victory against LexisNexis Dragons.

In Friday's solitary game, Olivia Tchine top-scored with 32 goals as London Pulse beat Leeds Rhinos 61-52.

Pulse's second straight win moved them to 12 points, three behind Lightning, who inflicted the London side's only defeat earlier this month.

Having scored 46 goals in the victory against Nottingham Forest in the previous round, 25-year-old England goal shooter Tchine starred once again against Rhinos and increased her tally to 166 from five matches.

Rhinos replied through Jamaica international Simone Gordon's 23 goals and Paige Reed's 15.

Leeds are second from bottom with only one win from their first five matches.

BBC Sport will show one game per week during the regular season.

These are the games you can watch live on the BBC Sport website and iPlayer:

4 April: London Pulse v Birmingham Panthers (17:00 BST)

11 April: Dragons v Birmingham Panthers (16:00)

18 April: Loughborough Lightning v London Mavericks (18:00)

Televised games in weeks 9-14 will be announced at a later date.