The Southern Steel lost 57-37 to the Central Pulse in Wellington tonight.
The scoreline blew out in the end but there were patches of beauty from the Steel, in what was captain Te Hungia Reo Selby-Rickit’s 200th domestic game.
But those moments were tempered with basic errors and a struggle to finish off the pass into the circle, failing to reward any pick ups on defence.
It was a better start from the Steel, capitalising on some early missed feeds from the Pulse.
The Steel treasured the ball more, and played with good length and width on attack.
Georgia Heffernan and Jess Allan teamed up in the shooting circle and were not afraid to play the ball around to get closer to the post.
But the long leavers of Kelly Jury proved to be a nuisance, picking up several tips outside the circle and her pressure over the shot.
Pulse led 13-8 at the break.
The home side continued and pushed out to a 22-11 lead early on.
The Steel mounted its comeback, going on a run of four unanswered goals to claw the score back.
When the Steel played with speed, and were direct in its movements, it gave itself more opportunities.
Sam Winders played some good angles at wing attack and Georgia Heffernan did a huge amount of work outside of the circle.
But it still struggled to find that finesse on the shot and the final pass into the circle consistently.
Down the other end, Kate Burley looked settled at goal keep, with the experience of Selby-Rickit out front, and used her footwork to roll around Amelia Walmsley, snatching some great intercepts.
The Pulse midcourt were given too much room to move, something Maddy Gordon and Whitney Souness exploited.
Walmsley picked up where she left off last week, finishing with 42 from 45 goals, and took her team to a 27-16 lead at halftime.
At times Steel attackers worked in isolation but when they went back to basics, they found their flow.
A positional switch with Georgia Heffernan moving back to goal shooter opened the circle up slightly more.
It was a messy third spell from both sides but the Pulse came out on top
Wing defence Fa’amu Ioane punched onto the ball bringing it through court and hustled on defence.
Pulse stepped it up again in the final quarter. Souness put in sublime long feeds, Tiana Metuarau was the master in her attack line and Kristiana Manu’a was dogged in the defensive circle.
The home side was clinical in front of its home crowd and made the Steel pay for its errors, taking a 20 goal win in the end.
The Steel now head to Auckland, taking on the Northern Stars, which beat the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 66-47 this afternoon, on Monday.
