Northern Mystics finally deliver

BARRY HARCOURT

IN ACTION: Maria Tutaiia looks for a gap through Leana de Bruin during the ANZ Championship netball match between Southern Steel and Northern Mystics.

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Northern Mystics finally delivered the game they'd been promising all season with a stylish 52-49 win over Southern Steel in a trans-Tasman netball league match in Invercargill tonight.

With just three wins from seven starts, the seventh-placed Mystics desperately needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive and had to battle hard against the sixth-placed Steel.

Both teams began the match hesitantly, matching each other turnover for turnover in the opening minutes as close marking right through the court forced errors. But the Mystics settled into their game quicker, not only forcing the Steel into errors, but converting the resulting possession into points on the board.

Mystics goal shoot Cathrine Latu had a quiet start, with the Steel's Silver Ferns defender Leana de Bruin keeping her under close wraps. But goal attack Maria Tutaia really upped her game, after some less-than-impressive efforts of late.

Tutaia's movement off the ball was sharp, she offered a range of options for her midcourters, and her shooting was almost unfailingly accurate.

Latu was equally impressive, mixing her holding game with some telling forays along the baseline and finishing off with aplomb, missing only one shot in the entire game for a 95 percent success rate.

The key to the Mystics' win came with the speed of their game, often half a pace ahead of the Steel, and in the confidence with which they let the ball go into the circle. Two strong opening quarters laid the base for the win, with the Auckland-based Mystics leading 30-23 at halftime before the Steel battled back in the last half hour.

Mystics circle defenders Althea Byfield and Joline Henry dominated, picking up the tips and intercepts on the back of some excellent midcourt pressure from Larrissa Willcox, Temepara George and Grace Rasmussen.

Byfield appeared to lose a little mobility in the second spell after turning an ankle just on halftime, but she was also stretched by a judicious change in the Steel shooting circle.

Twenty-year-old Julianna Naoupu replaced Wipiiti at the back, and the difference in the southerners' game was immediate.

Naoupu split the circle well with captain and goal attack Megan Dehn, and the Steel midcourt began to let the ball go, Wendy Frew and Liana Barrett-Chase starting to find their shooters with ease.

Wipiiti had shot well, sinking 13 from 15 in the first 30 minutes, but Naoupu's work rate, movement and rebounding proved invaluable in the closing half-hour although her shooting statistics show only a 67 percent success rate as she sunk 22 from 32 attempts.

An improved midcourt defensive effort from the Steel disrupted the Mystics' rhythm in the last two quarters, but the Aucklanders controlled the possession in the closing minutes to shut out the win.

- NZPA