Team Northumbria v Surrey Storm (2016 Netball SuperLeague Season - Round 9)

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• published: 16 Mar 2016
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Surrey Storm powered past an outmatched Team Northumbria in the Netball Superleague on Monday 14th March 2016. The 58-45 victory took Storm to third-place in the Superleague with 18 points, three behind Hertfordshire Mavericks and Manchester Thunder who have played a match less. Northumbria remain seventh with only Yorkshire Jets beneath them. Rachel Dunn and Hannah Reid wasted little time in finding their range to put the visitors ahead, and an important steal on the first quarter buzzer from Katy Holland helped Storm to a 15-10 advantage after 15 minutes. Three swift goals in the second quarter, most impressively from Amy Flanagan, extended Storm's lead before Northumbria's Lynsey Armitage closed the gap to 10 points at half-time. The gulf in class began to tell in the third period and, crucially, it was Storm who moved further ahead as Northumbria found themselves comprehensively out-manoeuvred. Storm's lead stretched to 14, even with Armitage on form at the other end of the court, and they took a 44-30 cushion into the last 15 minutes. Storm remained firmly in control in the final minutes with Dunn proving a particular threat - she scored one goal after a superb interception from Flanagan in the mid-court as Surrey coasted to a second Superleague win against Northumbria after their 57-35 result in the second week. Surrey's player of the match Georgia Lees said: "Today was about getting all of the bench onto the court, and it was our job as the starting players to build a lead so there was no pressure on the players coming on. It's just great to work with such a different range of players. "The first half of the season wasn't good enough, we lost games that maybe we shouldn't have. This part of the season is about pushing on and saying 'we're here to win'. We want to defend, we won it last year."