Western defeat North

Western netball have pulled off a comeback and finished fifth in division one of the NPC after beating North for the second time in two days yesterday.

After only mustering one point from their first four games the women from Manawatu and Taranaki turned things around and in knocking off North 69-48 culled the Northerners to face Wellington with their tier-one status on the line.

Western were due to meet Bay of Plenty today at 12.30pm in their playoff match and while their division one life is also on the line it is not against a ANZ Championship team stacked lineup like Wellington.

Western coach Annette Pearce said the mood in the camp was a lot brighter.

"We didn't want to come up against Wellington who finished top of division two," she said. "When you get the wins it does always lift you and the other good thing the girls have found is we've got stronger every outing and that's positive as well."

In a rare move, Pearce was also able to get every player on the court during the game. "It was just a good team effort. We worked on the team defence and making sure we were chasing the turnovers."

Pearce said her players could not hold anything back against Bay of Plenty.

"We just know that we have to get out there, set the mark and have a good start again."

- © Fairfax NZ News