Surrey Storm’s dreams of opening their Superleague title defence with a win were shattered at Super Saturday as Team Bath staged a huge final quarter comeback to take a 47-44 win at the Genting Arena.
Storm looked on course to complete a round one win with a 10 goal lead at one point in the 3rd period, only for Bath to steal the points with a 10-0 run in the final quarter.
Sophia Candappa made her full debut in the tie, starting at C, while Georgia Lees and Amy Flanagan completed a young mid-court. The ever present Hannah Reid and Katy Holland returned at GK and GD respectively, while another formidable pairing of Pamela Cookey (GA) and Rachel Dunn (GS) completed a strong line-up for the reigning champions.
Bath opened the final tie of the Super Saturday event with a pair of early turnovers to lead, but Storm quickly overturned their hard work to level. Holland picked up an interception which Cookey netted at the opposite end as Surrey held an 11-13 lead at the first break.
A sloppy start to the 2nd quarter was quickly tidied up, marked by superb movement in the shooting circle by Dunn to break free from the defender and extend Storm’s lead to 6 at 15-21. Candappa continued to effortlessly read the play of the attacker in front of her, while easy interceptions for Holland and Reid meant Storm could take a 17-26 lead into the half time team talk.
Period 3 started and Surrey were flying. With the lead increasing to 10 goals at the midway point of the quarter it looked like the ‘away team’ were home and dry and would make the perfect start to the 2016 season. Bath ended the 15 with 2 goals but Storm sat on a comfortable 30-38 advantage.
Yasmin Parsons started the 4th period to join Candappa in making her Storm debut against her former club, but it quickly turned into a night to forget for the whole squad. Bath flew out of the blocks with 10 straight goals and no reply, as Storm struggled to not only get the ball into the circle but also into the net. Cookey ended the dry spell but was forced to leave the game in place of Kat Hayes, whose accuracy wasn’t enough to prevent Bath from completing a big comeback and taking an opening round 47-44 win back to the West Country.
A heart-breaking start to the season for Storm, who will be disappointed to let control, and the points, slip from their own hands.
Head Coach Kathryn Ratnapala now has 6 days to turn her side’s misfortunes around before Storm host Team Northumbria in their first home game of the 2016 Vitality Netball Superleague season.
Pictured above Rachel Dunn shoots against her former side at Super Saturday.
Report courtesy of Surrey Storm
