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Southern Steel wore down Northern Mystics to run away in the last quarter for a comprehensive 73-61 win in their trans-Tasman netball league clash in Auckland on Sunday.
The Steel turned around last week’s 13-goal defeat to the Swifts, also earning some measure of revenge for their 61-67 loss to the Mystics four weeks ago.
As an added bonus, the win bumped the southerners up the ladder three places into sixth with four weeks of the regular season left.
Both teams engineered turnovers in a scrappy first quarter, but neither could manage to follow through and score off their own pass with any consistency.
Lack of discipline and poor passing meant the first 15 minutes were cluttered with handling errors as both times struggled to find both timing and rhythm.
The Mystics worked hard in setting up a midcourt zone to slow down the ball into the Steel’s towering Jamaican shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, leaving goal attack Jodi Brown with the bulk of the shooting duties.
The Steel’s midcourt were strong in defence with Shannon Francois, Phillipa Finch and Wendy Frew combining well to force the Mystics wide and restrict their options into the circle.
With the scores level 16-16 at the end of the first quarter, both teams worked hard in the second spell to break clear with the Steel finishing strongly to take a 34-31 lead into halftime.
Fowler-Reid stepped up her volume, leaving Brown to continue her work as a playmaker, controlling the pace and flow of the ball into the circle.
Mystics circle defenders Anna Harrison and Jess Tuki managed to glean a useful supply of turnover ball with some well-timed deflections, but the through-court links on transition were still shaky and the Steel edged ahead to lead 34-31 at halftime.
Although the Mystics came out strongly in the third quarter, going on a six-goal run to grab back the lead early on, the errors continued to mount and the Steel responded with their own six-goal spree almost immediately.
They took a 54-47 lead into the final 15 minutes, and looked poised in controlling the last quarter for a comfortable win.