Southend international Sarah Hopkins returned from injury to maul the Tigers in Women's Senior National League Division Two.

The England under-20 player had been missing for ten months with a serious cruciate ligament injury.

But she bagged 23 points as Southend got their league challenge back on course after a 63-58 defeat the previous day to Brixton Topcats.

Swifts shooting was off-key at the start and they trailed 11-7 at the first turnaround.

But Talia Smith, Sarah D'Silva and Jo Andrews, who netted two foul shots at the end of the quarter, sparked a run of scoring that gave them a 29-28 half-time lead.

Taunton tied it at 31-all before Swifts went on a run that saw a three-pointer from D'Silva, four baskets from Willmore and a clutch of points from Hopkins.

Leading 56-40 entering the fourth period, skipper Hannah Wilhelmy settled the nerves before Hopkins rounded out the victory with a three-pointer on the buzzer.

Published Friday November 8, 2002

Brought to you by the Evening Echo