Surrey Storm Netball were on the wrong end of a late comeback on Saturday evening as Sirens stole a 49-50 win at Surrey Sports Park.
The hosts took full control of the must win tie in the 3rd quarter, only for the visitors to show composure in the dying minutes to take the win.
A game that swung both ways throughout saw Storm take an early lead after capitalising on a number of Sirens errors. The lead was pegged back to a single goal before Katy Holland stole for Storm to feed to a confident looking Megan Craig under the goal. The Kiwi shooter was forced off the court late in the quarter due to an injury precaution, but Frankie Well was more than capable of filling in and the hosts led 16-13 at the end of the first.
Sirens few out of the blocks quickest in Q2 to again bring the lead back down to 2 goals, but Storm were quickly able to retake control and led by 4. Their opponents were once again having none of it and took the momentum, but a closely fought quarter ended with Storm holding a 27-25 lead.
Head Coach Tania Hoffman rallied the players together during the half time break and Surrey came out flying, taking control of the early exchanges to quickly lead by 9 goals. Scarlett Williams replaced Bethany Sutherland at WD to add fresh legs to the court before Holland showed up with another crucial steal to ensure that Storm took a firm 42-35 lead in the final quarter and bags of confidence to push towards the win.
Despite being out of the top 4 race, Sirens were not going to give up. Within minutes they had reduced the lead back down to 3 goals and were forcing Storm to make quick decisions and messy errors. Craig returned to the court to add that shooting prowess when it was most needed, but the girls in duck egg blue just couldn’t feed the ball into her without Aiken Pinnock getting to it first. Sirens tied the game, then soon led by 2 and with a minute left the pressure was really on.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for Storm, as chances went begging in the dying seconds and Sirens took the win in their first ever visit to Surrey Sports Park. Final score- 49-50.
All eyes will be on Monday night’s live Sky Sports battle between Manchester Thunder and Team Bath, which could be vital in Storm’s race for the top 4.
Regardless of the result of that game, it all comes down to the final weekend when Storm travel to league champions Loughborough Lightning in a 6pm centre-pass.
Storm starting 7 vs Sirens:
GK – Hutchinson
GD – Holland
WD – Sutherland
C – Parsons
WA – Lees
GA – Harris
GS – Craig
Changes for Storm- Wells to GS (Q1), Williams to WD (Q3), Craig to GS (Q4)
Sirens starting 7 vs Storm:
GK – Aiken Pinnock
GD – Mulheron
WD – Nicholl
C – Brownie
WA – McCleery
GA – Halpenny
GS – Borrego
Storm shooting stats:
Craig 13/15 87%
Harris 17/19 89%
Wells 19/22 86%
Team 49/56 88%
Sirens shooting stats:
Borrego 38/51 75%
Halpenny 13/21 62%
Team 50/72 70%
Storm stats:
Hutchinson – 6 intercepts, 3 rebounds
Parsons – 1 intercept, 2 rebounds
Harris – 1 intercept, 1 rebound
Craig, Holland – 2 rebounds
Lees – 2 intercepts
Team – 10 intercepts, 10 rebounds
Sirens stats:
Borrego – 10 rebounds
Pettit – 6 rebounds
Brownie – 4 intercepts
Pinnock – 3 rebounds
Mulheron – 2 intercepts
Team – 12 intercepts, 19 rebounds
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