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May 16, 2017 by Surrey Storm

Report: Storm battle for win in Cardiff

Surrey Storm Netball returned to winning ways on Monday evening with a well-fought 57-69 win against Celtic Dragons.

The visitors put the woes of two home defeats fully behind them at the Sport Wales National Centre to keep their hopes of a top 4 spot alive ahead of next Monday’s visit to the Ricoh Arena to face Wasps.

A lightning start to the match saw 12 goals go in before either side were able to break down the other’s attack as captain Naida Hutchinson secured the first of many rebounds for Megan Craig to finish off. Dragons stole an interception of their own on the edge of the Storm shooting circle to give them the opportunity to take a 9-8 lead, before extending it to 15-12 for their biggest lead of the game. The advantage remained at 3 goals at the first break (20-17).

Hutchinson opened Q2 with an early rebound, which was followed by another two quick turnovers and suddenly Storm held a 2 goal lead at 21-23. Dragons picked out an interception to stop the run but Storm were in full flow. Lorraine Kowalewska made an immediate impact after coming on at the start of the quarter to add extra intensity to the defence and it paid off, as Storm shut their hosts down to just 11 goals to 19 in the 2nd quarter allowing them to lead 31-36 at half time.

Fresh from her England U21s Netball Europe Championships win on Sunday, Rhea Dixon arrived on court at WA to mix up the Surrey attack. Storm turned the ball over early on once against to extend their lead to 6 goals, but Dragons were hot on Craig at the defensive end to close her down. The lead was quickly down to just 3 goals and the game was once again turned around. The hosts has chances to take it down to a 1 goal deficit late on in the quarter, but Storm held on and led 47-49 heading into the final period.

Scarlett Williams returned to the court in Q4 at WD, pushing Scottish U21s captain Bethany Sutherland back to GD. The opening minutes were a tense goal for goal affair on the centre pass, until a mis-pass from the Dragons attack allowed Storm to pick up momentum with a turnover. Dixon followed up with two sweet steals in the midcourt to feed Katie Harris and Craig who pushed the lead to 7 goals. There was no looking back from there for Storm, as they hit a 10 goal advantage late on before eventually closing out 57-69 winners – a much needed confidence boosting win on the road.

Storm are back in action next Monday when they travel to Coventry for their first ever visit to Wasps, which is live on Sky Sports Mix from 7.30pm!

Storm starting 7 vs Celtic Dragons:
GK – Hutchinson
GD – Sutherland
WD – Williams
C – Parsons
WA – Lees
GA – Harris
GS – Craig

Celtic Dragons starting 7 vs Storm:
GK – Morgan
GD – Rideout
WD – Peeters
C – Jones
WA – Dyke
GA – McCollin
GS – Roberts

Storm shooting stats:
Craig – 43/56, 77%
Harris – 26/28, 93%
Team – 69/82, 84%

Dragons shooting stats:
Roberts – 22/24, 92%
McCollin – 35/40, 87%
Team – 57/64, 89%
 

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