Surrey Storm Netball secured a triumphant win over Team Northumbria at Surrey Sports Park on Saturday night as they cruised to victory with one week to go until Netball London Live.
Surrey Storm Netball secured a triumphant win over Team Northumbria at Surrey Sports Park on Saturday night as they cruised to victory with one week to go until Netball London Live.
A powerful straight run of goals in the 2nd quarter handed the hosts a lead which Northumbria struggled to peg back, as Coach Greenway once again made full use of the experience across her squad.
“It was great to once again get the whole squad on court. I am proud of another very professional performance.” said Greenway during her post-match interview.
A familiar 7 started the fixture for Surrey, with all players retaining their spots following the 20 goal win away to Loughborough 7 days previous.
Katt Ainsworth started the match the brightest for Surrey, making numerous tips and reading the swing ball well to hand Storm an early advantage. With a minute left of the clock in the opening period the England attacking trio came into full flow as Cookey drove the baseline with great pace and direction to allow Greenway easy options for feeding into her shooters, giving Surrey a 17-9 lead at the break.
Both sides exchanged early turnovers in the 2nd quarters, but Storm quickly sailed 7 points clear thanks to a number of heavy contact calls against Northumbria and some clumsy defending due to the unbearable speed of the home side’s attack. Greenway played her part in 2 late goals in the quarter as Surrey doubled their goal tally to 34 against Northumbria’s 17.
The lead allowed Coach Greenway to introduce two new faces at half time, as Amy Flanagan arrived on court at WD and Josie Huckle came on at GK, with Ainsworth switching to C and captain Reid going to GD.
Greenway continued to take centre passes unchallenged as the changes made little difference to the style of the hosts’ play and the lead was extended to 53-29.
Katie Harris and Becky Gentle made their season debuts at GA and GD respectively in the final quarter, with Georgia Lees coming on at WA and Mikki Austin moving to C. Harris netted with her first shot of the quarter, a 100% record which she was to continue for the remainder of the match. At the opposite end of the court Huckle was working hard to pressurise the Northumbria feeders while taking a number of superb rebounds.
Despite a number of role changes on court throughout the match, both attack and defence remained resilient for the whole hour of netball and Storm were handed their biggest winning margin of the season so far, finishing 69-35 winners.
Storm will now turn their attentions to round 7 of the 2015 Superleague season as they head to the Copper Box Arena for a sold out Netball London Live match against Hertfordshire Mavericks, an encounter which Greenway is looking forward to following Saturday’s match: “To have 5500 people in the Arena will be amazing. It really will be a special occasion.”
Player of the match: Rachel Dunn
Surrey Storm starting line-up:
GS- Dunn
GA- Cookey
WA- Greenway
C- Austin
WD- Ainsworth
GD- Holland
GK- Reid
Subs: Lees, Hayes, Flanagan, Huckle, Gentle
Changes: Ainsworth to C, Flanagan to WD, Huckle to GK, Harris to GA, Lees to WA, Gentle to GD
Team Northumbria starting line-up:
GS- Kambatuku
GA- Smith
WA- Grant
C- O’Hanlon
WD- Toner
GD- Styles
GK- Kennedy
Subs: Ewing, Moss, Mulheron, Small, Woodings
Changes: Ewing to WA, Moss to GS, Mulheron to GK, O’Hanlon to GS, Small to WA, Woodings to WD
Shooting stats:
Storm: Dunn 43/53, 81%; Cookey 20/22 91%; Harris 6/6 100%. Team 69/81, 85%.
Northumbria: Kambatuku 16/22, 73%; Smith 7/9, 78%; O’Hanlon 8/14 57%, Moss 5/6 83%. Team 36/51, 71%
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