Stars claim their first win on the road away at Dragons

Stars' centre Gabby Marshall took the first centre pass but Ella Powell-Davies got Dragon's fans on their feet early on with a tip on the circle edge to start the match but as the ball comes back into play off the back line, the visitors sink the first goal of the game. Having made an impressive start to the season, Shaquanda Greene-Noel caused early confusion for Stars, covering the space in the circle. A great passage of play follows and ends with a beautiful drive to the baseline and shot from Laura Rudland. The momentum began to swing in Stars’ favour. Powell-Davies put pressure over the ball to get another tip and this was followed by another a defensive rebound from Greene-Noel as Dragons worked as a unit to get the ball to Rudland who was pin point accurate with her shooting. Further tips, intercepts and rebounds came, but Stars held the lead by three to finish the first quarter.

Dragons made some defensive changes to start the second quarter. Hannah Leighton came on in the centre position, pushing Clare Jones to wing defence and Powell-Davies moved to goal defence resulting in Annabel Roddy taking to the bench. Dragons’ attack and defence worked together to force a three-second call on Severn Stars, and the scores were back within two goals once again as the game went goal-for-goal for a lot of the second quarter. With five minutes until half time, Stars got a slightly larger lead and used the momentum shift to their advantage to add two more goals to the tally. Dragons responded by making a change at wing attack. Celyn Emanuel replaced Shona O’Dwyer adding even more speed into Dragons attack. With five goals the difference going into the second half, it was all to play for.

The first five minutes of the third quarter started the way the second quarter went. It was goal-for-goal, and no side could break away from the five goal margin. With ten minutes of the quarter remaining, Stars started to increase the lead they had, and managed to add four more goals to their score. Rudland made way for Phillipa Yarranton at goal attack, hoping to add more goals to Dragons score and reduce the deficit. Midway through the quarter, the momentum had shifted Stars’ way again; Powell-Davies tried everything she could to stop their flow of goals but by the end of the third quarter, the gap had increased to 15 in the favour of the visitors.

More changes came from Dragons in the final quarter as Rudland and O’Dwyer re-entered the court in the positions they started the match. Rudland started her final quarter off with a long shot which didn’t touch the ring, hoping to shift the momentum in Dragon’s favour. The game continued to play out the way it did in the first three quarters, but Stars started to get a few more defensive turnovers resulting in a 20-goal lead to end the quarter and the match. Despite the score margin, Ella Powell-Davies continued to fight throughout the match, getting as many deflections, intercepts and rebounds as possible, and was presented with the Dragons' Player of the Match Award.

Match Report provided by Celtic Dragons