Sunday 24 February 2019 23:15, UK
Loughborough Lightning recorded their first back-to-back wins of the Vitality Superleague season with victory over Surrey Storm to move into the top four.
Team Bath's defeat to Wasps on Friday night had opened the door for Lightning and Storm to move into the play-off places with a victory in front of the Sky Sports cameras at a sell-out Surrey Sports Park on Saturday evening.
It was Sara Bayman's Lightning who prevailed thanks to a dominant second quarter which saw the visitors turn a one-goal deficit into a seven-goal advantage from which they never looked back thanks to an inspired display from shooter Mary Cholhok.
Storm, who had won three of their previous four games heading into the Saturday showdown, were unable to back any inroad as Lightning ended up with a hugely impressive 66-50 victory on the road that ends their inconsistent start to the season.
Head coach Bayman was full of praise for her team's display, either side of half-time which proved to be decisive after a fast start from Storm.
"Our middle two quarters were very strong after a shaky start and a blip in the final quarter, so I think to come out with a sixteen-goal win is good and I was happy with the result," she said.
"I think after last week we worked on making sure we were in control of the game, and controlling the error rate, it was positive to realise that those areas were in our control and we could easily make the changes needed in order to change the result."
Storm started well and forced the early turnover which proved pivotal in giving them a 13-12 lead at the end of the first 15 minutes but inspired by their win over Manchester Thunder last time out Lightning came out and began to turn the screw.
Attacking has not been a problem for Bayman's team and Cholhok continues to prove a more than capable replacement for Peace Proscovia, the Ugandan linked with brilliantly with Ella Clark as Lightning were able to capitalise on turnover ball to open up a seven goal lead at half-time.
Trailing 31-24 Storm needed a big quarter but they were let down by their discipline as contact calls allowed Lightning to pull clear, Cholhok remained ice-cool under the post while Tuaine Keenan and Vicky Oyesela kept the dangerous Sigi Burger quiet in the Storm circle.
Lightning doubled their opponents total in the pivotal third quarter, scoring 22 goals to Storm's 11 and headed into the final 15 minutes with a 53-35 lead they preserved energy to see out the game with the minimum of fuss.
Mikki Austin will be please with the spirit shown by her Storm side who won the final quarter 15-13 but it wasn't enough to earn maximum points and maintain their strong recent form.
The result moves Lightning, runner-up in each of the last two Grand Finals, into the top four for the first time this season ahead of their Round Eight meeting with bottom-of-the-table London Pulse while Storm will look to regroup when they face Celtic Dragons next week.
Round Seven reaches it's conclusion on Monday night when third-placed Manchester Thunder travel to Dragons and Pulse travel to second-placed Mavericks.
Superleague is back on your Sky Sports screen on Monday March 4 when Severn Stars host Saracens Mavericks in the final round of Round Eight - join us on Sky Sports Mix & Action from 6.45pm
