Surrey Storm had won their place in the final after finishing 2nd in the Superleague which saw Storm, Hertfordshire Mavericks and Team Bath level on points but Storm take second place on goal average.

Both sides were evenly matched with each side having one narrow win with each other during the league season.

The Superleage Final was tight with Storm edging out Thunder with a 55-53 victory at the Copperbox Arena on the Olympic Park. Storm had a strong first half with a 32-19 lead at half-time.

Manchester Thunder rallied after the break and brought the match to a nailbiting conclusion but did not have enough to overtake Surrey Storm by the final whistle.

Surrey Storm is the first team to win back to back titles since 2010.

You can out more about Surrey Storm at http://surreystormnetball.co.uk/

Photo: Press Association

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A storming 2nd quarter for the visitors handed them an unassailable lead at the half time break in a game which allowed Coach Greenway to once again exercise her options from the bench.

Greenway returned to the starting 7 alongside Mikki Austin and Katy Holland after a reshuffle in Storm’s last home match against Celtic Dragons, while Lightning named a familiar starting line-up including imports Maryka Holtzhausen, Peace Proscovia and Phumza Maweni.

Storm started the meeting the quickest, stretching to a 1-4 lead during the opening phases. Loughborough were quick to pull back and not allow their guests too much time on the ball to increase their lead, as goals were exchanged at either end until Austin picked up a mid-court turnover to turn the momentum in Storm’s favour, ending the quarter at 14-17 to Surrey.

Again the visitors raced out of the blocks to begin the 2nd quarter, increasing the lead to 8 then 12 goals with a succession of turnovers. Despite the advantage, play was still scrappy from both sides but the persistence and accuracy from the Storm shooters, notably Pamela Cookey who shot 100% in the first half, ensured that Storm built a hefty 20-38 lead at the midpoint of the tie thanks to 21 goals in 15 minutes.

Quarter 3 opened with a goal for goal period, before Cookey pulls out an exceptional interception which Storm launch forward to score and break the early deadlock. Both sides secured turnovers as the quarter progressed but Storm edged the period by a single goal as the visitors took a 35-54 lead into the final period.

Storm rung in the changes to close out the match as Josie Huckle, Amy Flanagan, Georgia Lees, Laurelle Borck and Kat Hayes all arrived on court for a selection of wholesale changes. Still Surrey dominated the play, despite few early errors, with Huckle controlling the defence and preventing Lightning from reducing the deficit. A fine away performance from Surrey was rewarded on the final whistle as they took the win 48-68.

Surrey Storm return to Surrey Sports Park this Saturday to take on Team Northumbria in round 6- the final match before Netball London Live takes centre stage on Saturday 7th March at London’s Copper Box Arena.

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Unprecedented demand for tickets has seen the event sell out for the first time in its history, completing a full schedule of sold out home fixtures for Surrey Storm during the 2015 season.

3151 people hit the Arena in March 2014 to see Storm narrowly defeat Hertfordshire Mavericks 52-50 in round 7 of last season, which saw Surrey go on to reach the Grand Final after an unbeaten run in the Superleague.

The two sides will meet once again at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday 7th March in front of yet another record-breaking crowd.

Gavin Baker, Surrey Storm Netball Franchise Director, said: “Netball London Live 2015 will be a really exciting day for the sport as a whole.

“Never before have so many people watched a domestic UK netball match- a record which we broke last year and have broken once again.

“Netball is a rapidly growing sport, both in participation and spectating, and we are delighted to be at the forefront of that growth in the UK.”

Mark Guymer, Director of Sky Tickets, said; “Working closely with Surrey Storm over the last two seasons and achieving a sell out for this event is a fantastic achievement for everybody involved.

“Most importantly the fans who have paid to go and watch the game will be treated to a great day out and this will no doubt inspire more people to experience the excitement of Superleague Netball.”

Fans who are unable to watch the game at the Copper Box Arena will be able to tune into live match coverage on Sky Sports TV. For the latest Sky Sports Netball coverage visit www.skysports.com/netball.

For more information on Netball London Live visit www.netballlondonlive.com.

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Surrey asserted themselves from the first centre pass to defeat the West Country side, who struggled to control their error rate across the court.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, player of the match Pamela Cookey was delighted with the result against her former side: “”It’s really important to get those wins back-to-back,”

“We played on Saturday and again today so we didn’t really have any time to do any analysis and meet up.

“It’s really important for us that we know that even though we are playing a different team, we can still do what we do – and it worked.

“They came out fighting in that second quarter and they really pushed us. Fair play to them, they really wanted it and they pushed us.”

Coach Greenway named an unchanged side to face Bath, with Mikki Austin and Katt Ainsworth retaining their starting places at C and WD respectively.

Storm started the better of the two sides as they raced to a 5 goal lead at 1-6 thanks to some early composed shooting from Rachel Dunn. The free-flowing former Bath trio of Dunn, Pamela Cookey and Tamsin Greenway were proving a handful for the hosts’ defence, as they found gap after gap to feed and score.

Bath shooter Rosie Allison was equally as clinical at the opposite end to soften the blow at the first quarter break, but Storm still held a commanding 9-16 lead.

Both sides turned over balls early in the 2nd quarter with mixed success. Dunn and Cookey were providing Greenway and Austin with multiple options to feed into the circle, with the England captain dropping back in after spending most of the opening quarter in a wide position.

Changes in Bath’s 7 on court sparked a renewed determination midway through the quarter, as Surrey’s grip on the game slipped to just 7 goals with a half time score of 22-29.

Amy Flanagan arrived on court in the 2nd half to replace Austin, pushing Ainsworth to C, which resparked Surrey’s flare. Storm were still consistant at the attacking end with Cookey shooting and scoring without challenge. Bath pushed hard to keep the visitors within touching distance, but error after error cost them as Surrey took a 28-42 lead into the final quarter.

Hannah Reid and Katy Holland remained tight on their attack to slow Bath down around the circle in the closing minutes of the game after the home side scored 4 in a row to remind the crowd that they weren’t giving up.

An evenly matched final quarter was just about edged by Bath, but it was Storm who took their 2nd win of the 2015 Superleague season, seeing them rise to 2nd place in the table after the completion of all round 3 fixtures.

Surrey Storm will return to the court this Saturday (Feb 14) to host bottom of the table side Celtic Dragons at Surrey Sports Park (7pm centre-pass).

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The teams could barely be separated through the early exchanges – tied at 18 after ten minutes – until Raiders opened the second stanza with a 13-4 surge when Pierre Hampton and Ben Mockford hit three-pointers for a 31-22 lead.

That lead was in double-figures soon after when Joshua Wilcher added a triple of his own and that’s where it stayed, at 40-29 going into the break, after DeAndre Medlock’s dunk late in the period. United had committed 15 first half turnovers and hit just 1/8 three-pointers.

But that changed immediately after the half time break. United stormed back to level the game at 47 on Anthony Downing’s triple to cap nine unanswered points. But that was as good as it would get for the visitors, when Raiders responded 9-2, Wilcher adding another triple, to take a 56-51 lead into the fourth.

Surrey did threaten once more, with a 10-2 run early in the fourth, to get back to 71-67. But Gareth Murray – who led their scoring on the night with 18 points – kept them at arm’s length, hitting a three-pointer immediately after. And the game was settled soon after when Mockford hit a pair of triples in quick succession, and the lead was back out to 83-72 late on.

United’s next league matches are Away at Bristol Flyers on Fri 13 and a Home game against Leicester Riders on Sat 15 at Surrey Sports Park. Tip-off is at 3pm.

Cover Image: Alan Levine – Nothing but Net(work)

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United have now lost five in a row, but the start of the game didn’t go to form as the hosts posted a first quarter 13-2 burst to lead 24-13 as Anthony Downing and Kramer Knutson scored four each. Fletcher and Martin cut the lead immediately for the visitors, but they still trailed 31-25 midway through the second stanza.It was also the twelfth time that the league’s leading scorers – they average 10 points more per game than any other side – have scored more than ninety points in a game this season. On this occasion they were led by Scott Martin, for the third time this campaign, with his highest tally of 28 points; while Rahmon Fletcher added 14 points and nine assists. Both teams shot the ball well on the night, with the Eagles shooting 50% from the field, and 47% from three-point range, with Andy Thomson hitting three of his four triples on his way to 19 points.

From there the Eagles took charge: Thomson hit back-to-back three-pointers, before Martin did the same, in a lightning 12-0 burst over a two minute spell that turned that deficit into a 31-37 lead.

The hosts stayed in the game until midway through the third quarter, when five more points from Fletcher inspired a 15-5 spell and a 53-65 lead for Newcastle. And the third quarter proved decisive as they put 31 points on the board, and ended it with a 13-3 push to lead 56-73 going into the final ten minutes.

There was to be no way back for United, as the lead peaked at 65-94 on Fab Flournoy’s basket, after Stuart Thomson had come from the bench to score the last five in another 14 unanswered points early in the fourth.

Surrey United return to BBL Championship action this Saturday when the Durham Wildcats visit Surrey Sports Park for a 7pm tip-off. Tickets are on sale now at www.surreyunited.co.uk.

Cover Image: Alan Levine – Nothing but Net(work)

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The Leicester Riders visit Surrey Sports Park on Friday evening, as the visitors maintained their title challenge with a convincing 85-56 victory.

Pavol Losonsky dealt a 17-point blow for United on the night, leaving the hosts to suffer their 11^th defeat of the campaign.

Sunday’s visit to the Plymouth University Raiders proved more positive, albeit just as fruitful, for Surrey as they slipped to a narrow 12 point defeat despite putting 88 points on the board.

Kramer Knutson finished the match as the top scorer in the game with 30 points, but it wasn’t enough for Surrey to pick up the win as the Raiders secured their 5^th league victory of the season.

Surrey United return to action this Saturday (27^th December) when they host the Sheffield Sharks at Surrey Sports Park (7pm tip-off), before travelling north to face the Manchester Giants on Sunday (4pm tip-off).

Tickets for all Surrey United home fixtures at Surrey Sports Park are available online at www.surreyunited.co.uk.

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Going into the game United had been leapfrogged by Leeds Force to push United to the bottom of the BBL Championship, so Surrey were hoping for a big win to put them back over the visitors.

Early in the 1st quarter Leeds fed number 14 Armand Anebo down in the low post where he took advantage of some poor defence inside, Anebo would get 8 points in the 1st from his attacking down low. And when United finally started to pick him up defensively, they left gapping holes in the D to allow open lanes to the basket to leave United trailing by 8. While United were stopping the mid-range and 3 pointers from falling, their defensive pressure inside was allowing the Defense to be pulled apart by players not picking up their man in time.

However in the 2nd quarter Surrey got set into their game, and showed real determination with several hustle plays and put backs that saw them come within 2 points with 6 minutes left in the half. Kramer Knutson was having a good game with 10 points and several defensive plays, and Anthony Downing added 11 points to make the comeback a reality. But Leeds Forward Anebo started to heat up again as he dropped further 5 points (13 in the half) to make United fight, but a string of 3 pointers for Leeds would have the 1st half finish  United 29 – 36 Force.

In the second half however, United took the game by the horns and never let go. They came passing the ball brilliantly to allow the ball to get to an open shooter, this movement allowed United to tie the game 38-38 only 3 minutes into the 2nd half. They managed to keep Leeds top scorer Anebo quite for the rest of the game as United played pressure defense. This powerful defense was causing Leeds to make many mistakes with mutilple turnovers and travelling calls, this only added to Surreys momentum.

In the 4th United showed their killer instinct as they made 3 consecutive 3-pointers to create a gapping 12 point lead, 63-51, with just over 7 minutes left in the game. And they carried on with brilliant defense from Knutson and the rest of United that only allowed Leeds to score 3 points in 6 minutes of the 4th quarter. With less than a minute to go United managed to stretch their lead to a commanding 15 points,before the game finally ended Surrey United 76 – Leeds Force 65.

Anthony Downing (20 points), Kramer Knutson (14 Points) and Kirk Crecco (15 points) all stood out as they pulled the Leeds defense apart as they helped seal a convincing victory.

United return to action this Friday as they host the Leicester Riders at Surrey Sports Park. Tickets are on sale now for the 7.30pm tip-off at www.surreyunited.co.uk. Surrey United defeat Leeds Force in BBL

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