Elias Shadrock received a ringing endorsement from coach Noeline Taurua after a coming-of-age performance in Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic's 65-49 thrashing of West Coast Fever last night at a chokka TECT Arena at Mt Maunganui.
Shadrock firmly established herself as Magic's top wing defence option after hauling in six critical deflections or intercepts as Magic improved from ninth to sixth in the transtasman standings with their second win of the season.
In a tidy display, Magic were far too clinical for the Perth-based side, edging to a one-goal lead after the first quarter before steadily improving throughout the match.
With goal shoot Irene van Dyk nailing 37 from 39 and Casey Willians and Leana de Bruin ruling the defensive end, Magic grabbed a 30-24 advantage by halftime, extended it to 47-37 at the three quarter mark before ramming it home with a near-flawless final quarter.
With wing defence incumbent Jess Tuki sidelined for up to a month with a back injury suffered in the loss to the Melbourne Victory, 21-year-old Shadrock got her first start in the win over Canterbury Tactix. She needed an eye-catching effort last night to convince Taurua she's worth keeping. The third-year Magic player delivered, constantly popping up in midcourt to disrupt Fever's flow.
"I was really proud of what Eli was was able to do," said Taurua, applauding every intercept from the sideline.
"Last week's win was a start for her, she put a foot out there, but tonight she really stamped her mark.
"Her numbers were brilliant and she's really going to grow in confidence from that."
Shadrock spent time on the bench in the win over Canterbury, replaced by Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick. But Fitzpatrick lasted less than a quarter before being pulled by Taurua. Shadrock went the distance last night in front of a noisy 3000-strong crowd.
"It was good to put my own performance out there," Shadrock said, "but more important for the team, because we've been coming and coming and it was finally good to see it on court. Noels will be stoked - I wish we could have given this to her earlier."
With Magic picking up quality turnover ball, particularly in the final two quarters, Laura Langman and Khao Watts fired the ball to van Dyk and Julianna Naoupu in good position, with Tauranga-based Naoupu growing in confidence after a shaky start.
With her side slipping out of the game at a rapid rate, Fever coach Norma Plummer was forced to reshuffle at halftime, although making seven changes - four positions and 1.96m international Susan Fuhrmann, centre Ashleigh Brazill and wing defence Andrea Gilmore benched, with the Fuhrmann-ator reduced to spectator for the final two quarters - was a head-scratcher.
It was desperate stuff but it had no effect as Magic rebuffed any chance of a Fever fightback.
Fever shooter Caitlin Bassett and captain Catherine Cox battled bravely at their attacking end but their 57 attempts were 20 less than what van Dyk and Naoupu put up, with the result largely dictated further down the court.
Finally smiling after a torrid start to a campaign that yielded losses in their opening four games, Taurua said it would be a picky coach who would criticise last night's effort.
"I've gotten over myself from last week and tonight it's time to celebrate the things we did well. It wasn't perfect, but to be honest every week that we've trained we've gotten better and even though we didn't come away with many wins I felt we were improving.
"Every week's critical when you've lost as many as us but we can only put our heads down and bums up and make sure our stats are improving."
In other ANZ Championship round six matches played at the weekend, NSW Swifts beat Central Pulse 39-36 and Queensland Firebirds toppled Northern Mystics 56-43. Tonight, Tactix will have their work cut out against undefeated Melbourne Vixens while Southern Steel play Adelaide Thunderbirds.