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Netball: Celtic Dragons beat Surrey Storm to final spot

May 22, 2024

This weekends Netball Superleague final will see Team Bath take on Celtic dragons, after the Welsh side prevented Surrey Storm from making it to their 3rd consecutive Netball Superleague final as they fell to a 52-65 semi-final defeat in Cardiff.

A slow start for Surrey Storm saw Dragons take an early commanding lead in the first quarter. The Welsh side looked comfortable in the opening exchanges but it didn’t take long for the defensive pairing of Hannah Reid and Katy Holland to settle and pile pressure on the Dragons attacking formation. Shooter Rachel Dunn picked up confidence at the other end of the court and scored with impressive accuracy as the first quarter finished 19-12 to Celtic Dragons.

The second quarter gave the travelling Storm fans some hope, with the attack working in a much tighter fashion and Reid and Holland worked hard to gain turnover balls. This allowed Storm to close the gap and draw level with minutes still to go in the half. The teams were goal-for-goal in the final minutes of the half and Storm looked determined to take the lead, but with a penalty called against Holland just before the whistle, Dragons got the last goal of the half and finished 31-30 ahead.

Dragons took back control of the game with quick long balls into GS Grenadian international Lottysha Cato and the home side quickly found themselves back with an unassailable lead. A passionate Welsh crowd lifted their side in the 3rd quarter and they finished with a 50-36 lead.

Surrey coaches made a number of changes on court for the final quarter which rattled the Dragons as Surrey stayed cool with young shooter Amanda Davis putting on a blinding performance. Goal keeper Alex Sinclair added a little extra height in the fight against Cato but sadly it wasn’t enough to stop Dragons reaching the Grand Final, as they rounded off an impressive 65-52 victory and booked their place in Worcester to face Team Bath this Saturday.

Sportsister, The Women’s Sports Magazine

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