Southern Steel player Abby Erwood once again took to the court for Phys Ed, while her ANZ Championship teammates Gina Crampton and Te Paea Selby-Rickit joined forces for Southern.
Teams scored evenly for the majority of the first quarter until Phys Ed took a three-goal lead midway through after a rebound from Erwood followed by its own centre pass.
Southern was confident to throw long passes in to its shooters while Phys Ed passed the ball around before securing it in the shooting circle.
Southern made positional changes to start the second quarter and quickly pegged back a four-goal deficit to level the scores.
Phys Ed scored two quick goals to retain a two-goal lead after a couple slick passes in to shooter Sophie Johns.
It scooped up a loose pass thrown by Southern to extend its lead back to four goals but Southern quickly retaliated and the margin was back to two.
Southern capitalised on a tip by goal keep Tarryn Dickson and evened the score at the half way mark of the quarter.
It was tight on defence and secured a turnover to take the lead for the first time since the start of the game.
Johns nailed a long-range attempt to finish the first half but Phys Ed was two goals down.
Erwood made her presence felt early in the second half as she tipped and intercepted the ball away from her opponents.
Southern’s two goal lead stretched out to six goals midway through the quarter as defenders Jen O’Connell, who started the game at goal shoot, and Beth Robertson successfully upset Phys Ed’s attack.
However, Phys Ed was slick through court and narrowed the margin to three goals to end the quarter.
Both teams got turnovers early in the final quarter but Southern managed to capitalise and extended its lead to five goals.
O’Connell was back in the shooting circle and, paired with Selby-Rickit, was a constant option for her teammates despite Phys Ed defenders’ best efforts to spoil their attack.
The five-goal margin extended to seven with minutes to play and was out to eight at the final whistle.
In other games, Southern Tui downed Taieri Snr A 74-35, College A defeated University Albion A 54-46, and University Albion B beat St Hilda’s Snr A 64-60.
- Jess Wilson
