But a quick look at the statistics would pinpoint it as the main reason why the southerners will play last year's runners up, North, in the play-off for third and fourth.
Auckland Waitakere breezed into the final with a 50-42 win over Otago in the semifinal at Energy Events Centre in Rotorua yesterday.
Southland upset North 55-54 in the other semifinal, setting up a North Island-South Island final.
Auckland's victory in the end analysis was comfortable enough.
The sides were tied 14-14 after the first break, but Auckland was able to outscore Otago in the remaining quarters to take an eight goal victory.
It might have been a different story had Otago been able to drop more shots.
Otago put up 68 shots, three more than its opponent.
Greir Campbell landed 20 of her 30 attempts (67%), Jessica Tuki 19 from 32 (59%) and Rihi Salter three from six (50%).
Auckland shooter Grace Rasmussen did not have a blue ribbon match either, scoring just seven goals for the whole game at a disappointing 44%.
While most of the shooting was average - and, yes, that is a euphemism for dreadful - Jade Topia was the exception.
The 21-year-old sniper calmly slotted 43 from 49 to help seal a finals spot for the defending champions.
Salter, though, remained unconvinced shooting lead to her side's downfall.
"Shooting definitely did not cost us the game," she said.
"We rebounded well and that's where all those extra shots come from. We picked off rebounds under the basket.
"It honestly could have gone any way, that game."
Salter blamed the little things like turnovers at crucial times and the odd confusing call from the umpires.
But Salter said she was heartened by how her side closed the gap on Auckland Waitakere after being hammered 62-40 in the round-robin fixture.
"Given time I know we can beat that team."
Otago started well enough, sharing the first quarter, but Salter opted to make four changes.
She brought Rihi Salter into the match at goal attack and Tuki shifted to goal shoot, with Campbell having a spell on the bench.
Hannah Broederlow moved to wing defence, which allowed Louise Thayer to come on at goal keep.
The changes were part of the game plan to unsettle Auckland, but the North Islanders adjusted quickly and out-scored Otago 12-8.
Salter reshuffled her players again, bringing Jess Moulds on at goal defence for Debbie White and Campbell coming off the bench.
The coach was not done re-jigging, and during an injury break took the opportunity to push Moulds back to goal keep and put White back on at goal defence.
In the midst all the bib swapping, an unchanged Auckland side was able to stretch its lead by a further three goals and take a seven goal margin into the final 15min.
Otago closed the gap to within three, but some costly errors saw the gap swell to eight by the final whistle.
Auckland Waitakere 50 (Jade Topia 43 from 49, Grace Rasmussen 7/16), Otago 42 (Greir Campbell 20/30, Jessica Tuki 19/32, Rihi Salter 3/6) Quarter 14-14, half-time 26-22, threequarters 39-32.
