Leeds Rhinos stay in the play-off race with a physical match up against Storm
After a tough defeat last night against Manchester Thunder the Storm ladies were back in the Copper Box for the last double header of the season. They matched up with Leeds Rhinos who were playing a must win game to stay in the play-off race.
The last time these two teams faced each other the Leeds squad took a narrow victory by 6 points. Unfortunately, in this encounter Storms Goal Keeper Alima Priest who has been one of Storms outstanding performers this season was out due to injury sustained from Sundays game.
Leah Middleton stepped up in the first quarter and showed her ability to play goal keeper alongside Felisitus Kwangwa at Goal Defence causing problems early for Rhinos. Neither team gave an inch in a physical fast paced first quarter ending 10 – 11 in favour of the Rhinos.
The same end to end action continued into the beginning of the 2nd quarter. But it was not long until Rhinos Goal Defence Vicki Oyesola came up with a chain of interceptions and quick transitions to convert at the opposite end. Storm brought in Emily Gulvin for Yasmin Evans for some fresh legs but the Leeds side stepped into a higher gear finishing the quarter 17 – 28.
Storm stopped the bleeding during the third with Emma Magee replacing Frankie Wells and coming on the court with an impact feeding pass after pass to Karyn Bailey. Rhinos still did not allow anything easy keeping the difference at 11 ending the quarter 29 – 40.
Storm battled hard throughout the final quarter but the momentum was in favour of Leeds as they began to close out the game. Storm came up with some impressive defensive stops winning the quarter by 1 goal. The 11 point advantage from the 2nd quarter was too much of a deficit to come back from.
With a bye weekend ahead, Storm look to regroup and recover some worn bodies as they take on Wasps and Mavericks to finish off the 2020/21 VNSL season.
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