The Southern Steel came from behind to beat Canterbury Tactix
48-47 in Christchurch today, giving them back-to-back wins in
the trans-Tasman netball championship for the first time this
season.
The Steel, who beat the Northern Mystics 61-52 last week,
were without potent wing attack and skipper Adine Wilson
today who had a calf niggle and their re-jigged line-up
struggled to match the home team's passion for most of the
game.
The Tactix attacking midcourt of Julie Seymour and Maree
Bowden looked to have got the better of counterparts Wendy
Telfer and Liana Barret-Chase from the outset as their side
led 14-13 at the end of the first quarter and then 26-24 at
halftime.
Steel goal attack Donna Wilkins looked a little out of sorts
in the first half when shooting at just over 60 percent, well
below last week's matchwinning effort against the Mystics
when she netted 95 percent of her attempts.
Steel coach Robyn Broughton made some tweaks to her side at
the end of the first quarter.
Having started Megan Hutton at goal keep, Broughton brought
her off, replaced her with Katrina Grant who had started at
goal defence and shifted wing defence Sheryl Scanlan into
goal defence.
It did not pay dividends immediately but as Grant and Scanlan
found their rhythm, it got harder for Seymour and Bowden to
feed their shooters.
With Jodi Brown and Anna Thompson sharing a shooting
percentage in the high eighties, Tactix still held an edge as
the game neared it conclusion.
The Tactix led 39-37 at the start of the final stanza and
were able to fend off some attempted comebacks from the Steel
particularly as Wilkins raised her success rate to 82
percent.
With a little over two minutes left, Scanlan pulled off the
intercept of the game and the Steel swept the ball upcourt to
tie the score at 46-46.
The sides exchanged goals to move the score to 47-47 but
crucially, with less than 24 seconds to go, Steel had the
centre pass.
They made no mistake with it and Wipiiti easily sank the
winner with just seconds left on the clock to give the Steel
their second win over the Tactix this season having won in
52-48 in the third round.
"Just the same old, losing the lead when it really mattered,"
Tactix skipper Seymour told Sky Sport.
"Mistakes at crucial times (cost us). They were really
patient and nailed the shots when it really mattered.
"We work really hard and it flows really well and then when
we're up, we almost become too tentative." Wilson praised her
attacking end for their work in the second half.
"I thought Daneka, particularly, was so confident there to
turn around and put those goals in.
"We've got two amazing shooters and you know that if they try
to mark one out, the other one stands up.
"Liana and Wendy played beautifully together, they've got
some really good skills. They hit that circle edge well." The
Tactix, ninth in the table, will play the winless Central
Pulse in the next round while Steel will host the leading New
Zealand team, the Magic.
