YWCA Bury put in another brilliant performance at home against Worcester Reds, recording a convincing 69-45 victory to extend their winning start to the season to eight games.

Bury stay at the top of the National Premier Division Two, four points clear of nearets challengers Linden.

The home side had Kelsie Taylor and player-coach Rachel Henry back after they recovered from injuries.

Having been relegated from Division One last year, mid-table Worcester have been inconsistent but they do have Severn Stars’ Super League goal shooter Lucy Herdman in their starting seven, so were not to be under-estimated.

They got off to the better start with two early interceptions helping them to a 5-1 lead.

Bury hit back quickly with seven unanswered goals to lead 8-5, and they held a slender 14-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Bury started to build a commanding lead in the second period, with Elia McCormick, Tyrene Karim and Jenny Cross working hard as a defensive unit to break down Worcester’s attacks with numerous interceptions.

In attack, Lois Pearson and Millie Roscoe were having a good day under the posts with 19 goals from 20 attempts in the second quarter, 34 from 38 attempts by the end of the first half, giving Bury a healthy 34-22 lead at half time.

Henry made personnel changes at the start of the third quarter, while the Reds brought on debutant Molly Geehan at goal shooter to partner Herdman in the circle.

The pair proved an instant hit with 15 from 16 shots in the quarter.

But Bury would not be outdone and Kelsie Taylor – in arguably her best game of the season – forming an energetic and dynamic central trio with Liss Scholes and Henry and they created a raft of great opportunities for the Bury shooters.

Sharkey in particular made the most of those opportunities, helping the home team to stretch their lead to 16 goals, a 19-15 third quarter making the score 53-37.

The final changes saw Roscoe return at goal attack with Pearson moving to wing attack, Henry and Scholes taking a breather to make way for Jas Cross to come on at wing defence.

With the game already effectively won, the final quarter became quite loose, with both sides guilty of trying over-ambitious moves rather than sticking to the basics.

Bury did, however, dominate possession and kept the scoreboard ticking over to finish the game comfortable 69-45 winners.

Tyrene Karim took the opposition’s player of the match award for another commanding display in defence, though Taylor and Scholes pushed her close.

Bury look forward to an away trip to Bath this weekend for what will be a tricky fixture against Team Bath Toucans.