Bartercard Surrey Storm and Saracen Mavericks went head-to-head in a thrilling encounter. In a game that felt could swing either way the first quarter was dominated by the home side before the game flipped on its head and Mavericks stepped up taking the lead at half time. The calm and collective efforts of Storm saw the surrey team push on the second half to get a 68-56 win.
The game started off with Storm taking control of the first quarter, with Austin making a long feed into Peace and Rothwell getting called for footwork on their FCP. This allowed Storm to gain their first turnover. Storm had a 5-goal lead in the first two minutes and managed to maintain their dominance, with Guscoth making a crucial interception to prevent Mavericks from gaining ground. By the end of the first quarter, Storm had a 6-goal lead, with the score at 18-12.
In the second quarter, Mavericks dug deep and fought hard to claw back their advantage, with solid connections down court and players working together to close the gap. Flanagan picked up a loose ball off the ground, allowing Storm to extend their lead. Knights and Middleton switched as they had no answer for the driving force of the Saracens. Mavericks managed to tie the game at 30-30 and then gained a two-goal lead by the end of the second quarter, with the score at 34-32 in their favour.
The third quarter saw Storm bounce back, Flanagan picking up a dropped ball in Mavericks’ circle edge and sending it to SDL, who scored a clean shot. Gibson was called up for contact against Peace, allowing Storm to level the score at a goal-on-goal game. Knights then came out of nowhere to intercept the ball, and Storm took a three-goal lead, clawing back from being behind by two.
In the fourth quarter, Knights picked up an obstruction called in her favour, which allowed Storm to gain momentum and change the shift of play to get two turnovers. Brookes, Austin, and SDL worked collectively together to send the ball into Peace, who was alone in the circle. Venter missed two shots in a row at the other end but eventually sank the third. Austin asked for it by SDL, but Gibson read the path of play to intercept, only to go off the side-line and make it a Storm ball. Zaranyika did a 3-way switch with Mather now at WD and Écuyer-Dale at C to spice things up in the last five minutes. Venter then had to switch with Clarke due to getting found with blood on her dress as a result of Guscoth. Knights put in the work to try and gain interception off Clarke, but Storm eventually walked away with a 68-56 win.
© Copyright 2024 Surrey Storm
