Celtic Dragons delivered a full team performance full of passion and patience for four quarters against Surrey Storm to record a first victory of the season by a 9-goal margin.
It was a fairly even first quarter as Dragons opened up a 10-13 advantage following a strong start out from the blocks, but Storm did manage to wrestle more of the initiative before half-time.
Storm achieved this through faster transitional play while keeping their composure in key moments, and this saw the Guildford outfit reduce the three-point deficit to make it 21-22.
However, Dragons performed admirably after the break to resist the Storm fightback, with Clare Jones producing a strong performance at wing defence (including a copious number of interceptions!) to help her earn Player of the Match.
Karyn Bailey’s sharp shooting helped Storm stay firmly in the contest heading into the final quarter though, with the goal shooter scoring 27 of her 29 attempts.
The fourth quarter then saw Dragons pull away into the lead as they looked hungry for their first win of the season, while Storm struggled to reach the same level of fluidity towards the end of the game.
This saw Dragons almost double Storm’s score in the final 12 minutes as they sealed a 39-48 win to pick up their first three point of the campaign.
Speaking after the game, vice-captain Jones said: “It’s not often that I’m genuinely speechless! I think everyone in our franchise and our bubble knows how much this means to us. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the most important thing. We’ve worked, we’ve been building, and we’ve known that we can do it. Today, we proved it to ourselves.”
Quarter scores: 10-13 (10-13); 11-09 (21-22); 10-11 (31-33); 08-15 (39-48).
Original match report provided by Surrey Storm.
