Surrey Storm on cloud 9
Sat 27 Feb 2010, 14:00
Surrey Storm made it 9 wins in a row last night defeating Hertfordshire Mavericks by 39 goals to 31 in the Co-operative Netball Superleague.
With both sides’ international players returning from test series action, the match started with some players pushing the ball at lightning rate whilst others took time to adjust, but it was Storm who fell in to synch together quicker opening out a 3-1 lead in the opening moments. Skipper Sonia Mkoloma, playing her last match for Storm before heading off the ANZ Championships certainly had her game head on and from the very first whistle was outstanding making an array of tips and interceptions.
It was a match which followed a pattern throughout; both sides put heaps of defensive pressure on each other through court, Mkoloma remained outstanding throughout and so did Geva Mentor who was also playing her final Storm game before heading off to Oz. Passing errors plagued both sides under the cosh but it was Storm who always displayed more quality through court to keep them in front and with the power of Dunn up front and the tireless work of Greenway, Hall, Nash and Galley, Storm were always one step ahead of the home side.
A close first quarter saw Storm lead by 12-9 at the break and then 21-15 by half time. Despite some changes in the mid court and Amanda Newton making some perfectly timed interceptions Surrey Storm came in to their own in quarter 3. Michelle Hall, a former Maverick herself had a fantastic period against her old side and when Storm used Hall in their build up play more it split the tight defence of Newton and Hutchinson apart and opened up more room for Dunn in the Storm circle. Hall failed to miss in the third and Storm had an 8 goal cushion by the final period finishing off the quarter in control and with a flourish of 4 back to back goals.
Mavericks came out all guns blazing in the final period of this physical encounter taking the game to Storm, Wood was replaced by Clark during play following a blood injury, then Clark was faced by a fired up Sonia Mkoloma totally on her game who intercepted one of her opening shots on goal, steeling yet another crucial turnover for Storm. Despite Mavericks having one of their strongest periods in the final quarter and Storm making some uncharacteristic handling errors, Surrey Storm weathered the pressure and held out for a hard fought 39-31 win.
Head Coach Mary Beardwood admitted it wasn’t pretty but was pleased to get the win over a tough side; “A win’s a win. It was a very tough game; both sides were put under tremendous pressure defensively. We’ve got a 2 week break now before our next match so we will be working on our attacking play and looking at new defensive combinations”. Finally as Mkoloma and Mentor head down under she added; “Congratulations to both Sonia and Geva because they played so well tonight off the back of a demanding test series and we wish them both good luck in the ANZ Championships”.
Click here for Match Statistics. Picture by Kevin Jones.
