- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The New Zealand Silver Ferns have dominated Australia to win the fourth and final Constellation Cup match at Perth Arena, winning 58-47, but the Diamonds just retained the trophy.
The Diamonds won the opening two matches in New Zealand by six and 10 points respectively but the trophy was still up for grabs when the Silver Ferns won by three goals in Melbourne.
To snatch the Constellation Cup they needed to win by 14 goals on Friday night, and after dominating in front of a Perth record crowd of 12,365 they led by as much as 14 in the fourth quarter.
However, the Diamonds did just enough with Caitlin Bassett nailing the last three goals to cut New Zealand’s win to 11.
The result caps off a stunning year for the Diamonds, retaining the Constellation Cup on top of winning the World Cup on home soil.
It was a strong showing by the Silver Ferns as they won by 11 goals with Bailey Mes (24 goals from 32 attempts) and Jodi Brown (34 from 41) both terrific.
Bassett was strong for Australia with 38 from 40 but the Silver Ferns did well limiting Nat Medhurst to seven goals to three quarter-time before Erin Bell replaced her to score twice.
New Zealand started well opening a 4-1 advantage and leading by three goals on four other occasions, but by half-time things were tied at 26-apiece.
The Silver Ferns went up another level in the third quarter and a run of seven consecutive goals saw them put the home team under real pressure leading by nine.
New Zealand had all the momentum when their lead blew out to the required 14 goals late in the fourth quarter, but the Diamonds did just enough, firstly with a clutch goal to Bell and then the last three to Bassett to get under the required deficit.