Sulu shines as Magic scrape home

Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick was the shining light in a lacklustre Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic performance which saw them scrape through with a 46-44 victory over Central Pulse last night.
The 18-year-old defender, playing in her first ANZ Championship match for Magic, worked tirelessly at goal keep, never letting up on the opposition shooters at Wellington's TSB Bank Arena, showing plenty of strength and tenacity.
The New Zealand under-21 player impressed coach Noeline Taurua with her work rate and the skills. On the go the whole game, Tone-Fitzpatrick created plenty of turnover and got her hand to a lot of ball, putting in a concerted 60-minute effort and proving she is a viable option for Magic.
"She takes up a lot of space and having her at goal keep allowed Casey [Williams] to be on the outside at goal defence, to roam and get a different perspective," Taurua said from Wellington after the match.
She was "really happy" with the Tone-Fitzgerald/Williams combination, saying the young defender, a new recruit for Magic this year, showed plenty of promise.
"She showed real potential."
In last night's other game, the Queensland Firebirds dealt to the West Coast Fever 62-38.
Taurua was not as happy about her team's overall performance and said there would be plenty of reviewing following an encounter which, on paper at least, Magic should have dominated.
Instead, Magic looked pretty lethargic, lacking drive through the court and finding it difficult to pick their way through some solid and unrelenting Pulse defence which kept them wide and prevented them gaining any momentum.
Down 11-14 after a subdued first quarter, Magic picked things up in the second spell but not enough to shake the always dogged Pulse side despite leading 26-21 at half time. Magic never looked comfortable, had trouble finding much rhythm at the shooting end and let things slip again in the third quarter. They really had to battle to hang on to the lead and held a slim 35-32 advantage heading into the final stanza.
Despite not achieving the performance they wanted, Magic's third successive win of the season saw them promoted to the top of the points table but with tougher matches ahead.
Their next match, against Canterbury Tactix has been moved from earthquake-stricken Christchurch to Rotorua next Monday. The Cantebury team's scheduled home match against Northern Mystics this week was postponed.
League officials today said while next Monday's game in Rotorua would still be treated as a Tactix home match, with all gate receipts going to the Canterbury team, Magic management would handle the event from an operations perspective.
Championship general manager Anthony Everard expressed the league's and Netball New Zealand's appreciation to all nine teams for the manner in which they had rallied around their colleagues in Christchurch.
"Tactix chief executive Peter Smith wanted the netball community to know just how appreciative the team are for the messages and gestures of support," Everard said.