The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic managed to stay upright longer than the Southern Steel and clinched a 38-33 win in a topsy-turvy ANZ Championship encounter in Invercargill last night.
The result has kept the Magic's play-off hopes alive, but the Steel's impossibly slim prospects disappeared completely with the five-goal loss.
"We've got two games left and we need to redeem ourselves and finish well for our fans," Steel co-captain Wendy Frew told Sky after the match.
It certainly was not pretty netball, with both teams throwing away enough possession to lose two games. But there was also some excellent defence, which contributed to the high error rate.
The Steel's defensive pairing of Leana de Bruin and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit enhanced their reputation with tight marking and well-timed intercepts. They grabbed three intercepts apiece and did a superb job keeping the Magic to 38 goals.
And Steel shooter Paula Griffin continued her recent improvement with some accurate shooting, landing 24 of her 26 attempts. She may have played herself back into a Silver Ferns bib, perhaps at the expense of team-mate Daneka Wipiiti, whose performances have fallen away in the last month.
Wipiiti landed nine of her 14 attempts in a lacklustre effort.
But just getting shots on goal was a big achievement for both sides, with the possession often changing hands several times before a goal was posted.
Griffin opened the scoring with a Maria Tutaia special - using the pole to pass the ball to herself from the baseline restart.
That was basically as good as it got for the Steel in the first stanza. The Magic could have driven a Hummer through the home side's midcourt zone, with Laura Langman waltzing through some pretty ineffectual defence.
Frances Solia also had no problem navigating her way through the zone. She found the going surprisingly easy, cutting out the three or four passes usually needed to get the ball up court and opting instead for a half court bullet straight to van Dyk.
The Magic took a 12-7 lead into the break, but the Steel emerged with more resolve, especially in the midcourt. The passes found safe hands, not space, the loose ball got swept up and Natasha Chokljat, Frew and Liana Leota got into the game, snapping up an intercept each.
De Bruin and Selby-Rickit increased the pressure on former team-mate Naoupu, who put up just two shots in the period. It was a staggering turnaround, with the Steel posting seven unanswered goals and outscoring the Magic 13-4 to take a 20-16 halftime lead.
Not surprisingly, the Magic made changes, Jamilah Gupwell coming on for Naoupu and Jessica Tuki replacing Solia.
The injection of fresh legs saw the Magic rally and, incredibly, the visitors built a four goal lead before the Steel scored the last four goals to draw level 28-28.
With the match in the balance, both sides seemed paralysed with fear. Any trust they had in their team-mates had been stretched beyond its elasticity and hesitancy set-in.
Some laboured and uninventive netball followed, both teams seemingly content to wait for the other to make a mistake.
It was the Steel midcourt which cracked first, with Langman snaffling enough intercepts to make a difference.
And van Dyk's near flawless shooting (29 from 30) helped seal the victory.
THE SCORES
• Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 38
Irene van Dyk 29 from 30, Julianna Naoupu 6/12, Jamilah Gupwell 3/7
• Southern Steel 33
Paula Griffin 24/26, Daneka Wipiiti 9/14
• Quarter 12-7, halftime 16-20 third quarter 28-28
