Magic defeat swift and sure

A second-quarter blitz from the NSW Swifts was enough to see them shut out Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 53-46 in a transtasman netball league match in Tauranga last night.
The Sydney-based team outscored the Magic 18-8 in the second stanza for an intimidating 32-18 halftime lead, and although the home team fought back in the latter stages, they were left with far too much ground to make up.
A strong finish to the first quarter saw the Swifts edge out to a 14-10 lead, but the Magic still looked threatening until the Swifts cranked up the tempo for a second-quarter shut-out.
They put huge pressure on the Magic pass, shutting down their flow through the midcourt with some superb defence.
The Magic's drive to the circle edge was severely restricted, and the quality of ball making it in to shooters Irene van Dyk and Julianna Naoupu was poor.
Much of the credit for that could go to the ever-disruptive Mo'onia Gerrard at wing defence, who seemed to be everywhere, and some excellent defensive work from midcourters Courtney Tairi and Kimberlee Green.
The Swifts' circle defenders Rebecca Bulley and Sonia Mkoloma played their part too, seamlessly covering every inch of the circle and timing their forays out for the intercept with precision.
Down 18-32 at halftime, the Magic could only improve and showed plenty of backbone to reel the Swifts back in as the third quarter progressed.
Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick's injection changed the dynamic in the circle, her eye for the intercept, quick hands and combination with Casey Williams featuring in a series of turnovers in the third quarter.
The Magic finally found some intensity, sparked in part by Tone-Fitzpatrick's commitment which at one stage saw her diving full length across advertising hoardings and the team bench into the second row of spectators.
At the other end, the introduction of Jamilah Gupwell at goal attack saw more variety in the circle but although the Magic fought back to take the spell 14-10, they still trailed 42-32 at the three-quarter mark.
Van Dyk benefited from some more precise feeding, Frances Solia coming on at wing attack after halftime and proving more adept at finding the space her shooter was holding.
Although Solia could only manage the 15-minute spell, and Jess Tuki returned for the vital final stanza, the Magic continued to press and at one stage were just five goals astray.
However, their inability to retain possession cost them, as they coughed up 22 turnovers to the Swifts' 12, pressured into errors by robust Australian defence.
The Magic's shooting accuracy, at 90 per cent, was vastly superior to the Swifts' 80 per cent, but the Australians' domination in terms of possession proved too much to overcome.