Surrey Storm were back to their winning ways on Tuesday evening as they secured a 61-39 win against Team Bath at Surrey Sports Park.
The physical encounter between the two sides was never in doubt for Storm who lead from start to finish, with Bath failing to cut out crucial errors in the final two quarters.
New signing Bongiwe Msomi made her first appearing in the opening 7 of the season as Greenway opted to start her at centre alongside the familiar attacking and defence trio’s.
It was Storm who started the better of the two sides with Msomi stating her presence early on with strong attacking drives and faultless feeds into England shooter Rachel Dunn. Strong and sustained defensive play continued to put pressure on Bath as Ainsworth picked up a loose ball in mid-court which saw Dunn convert to give the home side the lead. Another rebound for Holland saw Cookey net at the opposite end and extend Storm’s lead out to 6 before turnovers for Bath in the final few seconds allowed them to eat into the deficit, ending the quarter 14-10 in Storm’s favour.
A held ball against Francis gave Storm opportunity to extend their lead early on in the second quarter but the home side failed to capitalise. As Bath came back to within two goals, frustration was evident in the Storm side as a poor Greenway feed across the circle was intercepted by Brownie. However Bath weren’t able to take advantage and another Ainsworth interception on the Bath circle edge gave Storm turnover ball handing them back the momentum with Cookey netting. A strong finish from Storm saw them end the first half with a 9 goal advantage, leading Bath 27-18.
Changes for Storm saw Reid move across to GD as Josie Huckle took her place on court at GK. It was a shaky start for Surrey to the third quarter with Greenway throwing the ball away and Dunn missing her first attempt of the quarter to hand Bath possession. However, as Huckle managed to intercept Bath attacking play at the opposite end, Dunn was handed the chance to redeem herself and successfully found the target. With Storm continuing to apply pressure, Bath were forced into making errors and Storm were able to extend their lead through Cookey, heading into the final quarter 45-26 ahead.
The fourth quarter saw changes for Storm with Georgia Lees coming on at WA and Amy Flanagan on at WD. It was end to end goals at the start of the second quarter as Bath still managed to find the net despite hard work from the Storm defence. But it wasn’t long before the Bath resilience buckled. With Lees showing her skills at WA and Cookey and Flanagan picking out Bath balls, Storm were able to continue netting goals and secure a comfortable 61-39 win over the visitors.
Bongiwe Msomi picked up a well-deserved player of the match in her second duck-egg appearance after a superb individual performance.
It’ll now be another quick turnaround for Surrey Storm this week as they prepare to play their third Superleague match in six days against Yorkshire Jets in round 10 on Friday evening.
Player of the match: Bongiwe Msomi
Surrey Storm starting 7:
GK – Reid
GD – Holland
WD – Ainsworth
C – Msomi
WA – Greenway
GA – Cookey
GS – Dunn
Subs: Borck, Flanagan, Harris, Huckle, Lees
Changes: Huckle to GK (3rd quarter), Reid to GD (3rd quarter), Flanagan to WD (4th quarter), Lees to WA (4th quarter)
Team Bath starting 7:
GK – Cook
GD – S Francis
WD – Brownie
C – Ritchie
WA – Shaw
GA – A Francis
GS – Allison
Subs: Craig, Dent, Jones, Parsons, Williams
Changes: Jones to C (3rd quarter), Ritchie to WA (3rd quarter), Shaw to GA (3rd quarter), Cook to GD (4th quarter), Craig to GS (4th quarter), Francis to GA (4th quarter), Ritchie to C (4th quarter), Williams to WD (4th quarter)
Shooting Stats:
Storm: Dunn 41/50, 82%; Cookey 20/22, 91%. Team 61/72, 85%.
Bath: Allison 21/23, 91%; Francis 9/14, 64%; Shaw 2/2, 100%; Craig 7/9, 78%. Team 39/48, 81%.
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