Steel sends powerful message in dealing to Magic

Reinga Bloxham.

As far as statement wins go, this one was pretty big and very timely.

Coming off its toughest test of the season, Southern Steel thrashed the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 78-59 in Auckland yesterday.

With just two games to go until the playoffs and having secured a home final, it sent a powerful message against one of its potential opponents.

The Magic has now lost five of its past six games and is on a dangerous slide.

But it is a team with quality players that is still in the playoff hunt and that pushed the Steel close last time the two sides met.

On that occasion, the Magic shooters proved difficult to shut down.

While Lenzie Potgieter and Monica Faulkner again shot well, this time their impact was far less.

The Steel’s ability to keep the ball out of their hands was key in winning the game.

It forced the Magic into turnovers and made no mistake of capitalising at the other end.

In the end, the Steel had 89 goal attempts to the Magic’s 71.

Steel coach Reinga Bloxham said applying defensive pressure to create turnovers was something it had looked to do.

"I think, after last week’s game, we sort of felt our team defensive pressure wasn’t as good as it could have been. ‘‘So that’s something we talked about in the last couple of days.

"I think when everyone is working hard out in front of Jane [Watson] and Te Huinga [Selby-Rickit], it makes their job a lot easier if the ball can be slowed down.

"I think we did a better job of that and Jane and Te Huinga’s connection inside the circle was a little bit sharper. It was good."

Bloxham was happy with the Steel attack too, after 78 goals were scored against a Magic defence that included Casey Kopua and Kelly Jury.

She said at times it operated with speed and width and fed the ball well, and she made special mention of Te Paea Selby-Rickit for a strong performance.

Consistency is something the team has placed an emphasis on and while Bloxham was happy with the overall performance, she felt it was not quite a 60-minute one.

She said the team still lapsed at times coming out after breaks and timeouts, which it needed to iron out.

The Steel started strongly to lead 18-13 at the end of the first quarter, opening up its gap midway through as turnovers hurt the Magic.

The same trend carried on through the second quarter and the Steel soon opened up a double-digit lead.

But after it reached 34-22, the Magic pulled back to go to halftime down 37-28.That became 57-42 at the end of the third quarter as the Steel continued its domination through to the end.