The Mystics beat out the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 31-24 in the final to claim the pre-season silverware for the Auckland leg of the tournament, which also featured the Southern Steel, Queensland Firebirds and Adelaide Thunderbirds. The five remaining ANZ Championship franchises took part in another tournament in Sydney under an identical format.
"We may have won the shootout but at the end of the day it's about winning games during the season," said Tutaia.
"We'll take great confidence from these games, but we need to keep pushing ahead."
It's a rare occurrence for a transtasman league competition to feature two New Zealand sides in the final, but before Kiwi fans collective hopes are raised, it should be pointed out the final day of the tournament featured a couple of new rule innovations.
Crucially, the addition of a three-point scoring zone towards the outer edge of the circle, had a major impact on the results, with the New Zealand teams better suited to the less-structured game style.
One of the star attractions at the Auckland tournament - the defending champion Firebirds - looked particularly uncomfortable with the altered rules, with their attacking game plan set up around Jamaican super-shooter Romelda Aiken.
The Firebirds suffered the biggest loss of the day, going down 44-19 to the Magic, who later toppled the Steel to win their way through to the final. The Mystics earned their passage through to the final with wins over the Steel and Thunderbirds.
It was no surprise to see the Mystics triumph on their home court, with the game virtually made for star shooter Tutaia. But it was Cathrine Tuivaiti who stood up in yesterday's final, nailing a couple of crucial long bombs when the Magic threatened in the second half.
Tuivaiti drew a huge cheer from the crowd when she put the match beyond doubt with a three-pointer with two minutes to play to take a 28-17 lead.
While the crowd seemed to enjoy the addition of the three-point zone, awarding three points offered too much reward for long-range shots. If the aim of trialling the new rule was to add another dimension to the game, it failed. Rather than encourage teams to mix up their attacking strategy and keep defenders thinking, it only made the play more predictable, with shooters appearing to only wanting to take shots from the three-point zone.
- Dana Johannsen
