Magic’s strong performance sinks Stars for second time in a week

The Magic defeated the Stars 71-54, leaving the Stars at the bottom of the ANZ Premiership ladder. Photo / Photosport

By Bridget Tunnicliffe of RNZ

The Magic inflicted more pain on the Stars with a 71-54 win in Auckland on Monday night.

Last week, the Magic beat the Stars by 21 goals, but the Stars weren’t able to exact any kind of revenge when they met for the second time in a week.

The Magic sit fourth on the ANZ Premiership ladder, while the Stars are at the bottom after just one win in five games.

For the first time this season, Maia Wilson started the game at goal shoot for the Stars, with Australian import shooter Charlie Bell on the bench after a couple of quiet games.

Last week, Stars defender Kate Burley was ruled out of the season altogether after re-aggravating a foot injury at training.

The Stars have been missing the tenacious defender and it’s another blow after losing midcourter Greer Sinclair in the first round to a season-ending knee injury.

The Magic continued where they left off last week to lead the Stars 20-11 after the first quarter.

The Stars desperately needed to contain the Magic’s attacking end and coach Temepara Bailey responded by bringing Kayla Johnson on at goal defence, and moving Lili Tokaduadua to goal keep.

On return from injury, Samon Nathan made her first appearance of the season when she played 18 minutes at wing defence.

Despite a better second quarter and Monica Falkner nailing three super shots, the Magic led 38-29 at halftime.

Bell came on at goal shoot with six minutes left in the third quarter but the Stars just couldn’t make any headway and the Magic led 56-39 at the final turn.

Magic coach Mary-Jane Araroa made her first substitution in two games by bringing on Oceane Maihi at goal defence with 10 minutes left.

Saviour Tui earned back-to-back MVP awards after shooting 46 goals at 94%.

Magic captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio was also a big contributor, shooting 25 goals in support.

Mila Reuelu-Buchanan takes the ball in the Stars v Magic match. Photo / Photosport

Blowouts

Score blowouts and unpredictable results have characterised the first half of netball’s ANZ Premiership.

In round two, no one would have predicted the Steel would thrash the Magic by 28 goals.

In round four the Magic beat the Stars by 21 goals to register their first of the season.

Against all predictions, the injury-depleted Mystics beat the Pulse on the weekend, who were coming off a 25-goal thrashing of the Steel, and the week before that a 24-goal win over the Stars.

Former Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering said the topsy-turvy results were concerning.

“Because it just shows inconsistency and at the moment it’s actually really hard to predict, it’s not clear cut in predicting winners each week.

“You look at it and go ‘well this team should win’ but who knows what’s going to happen, you cannot take past results into account when you’re trying to predict winners.

“In a way I guess that’s a good thing but personally as a coach and seeing this and looking to our future, because this is our elite competition, you would want to see far more consistency in the performances of not just teams but also individual players.”

The intention of the two-point shot is that it gives teams an opportunity to catch up on the scoreboard, but it can do the opposite.

When a margin gets big enough, the trailing team naturally feels that their only option to winning is through nailing super shots.

The Stars were in that position last night, but Bell was only able to land one from eight attempts from that range, with the rebound often ending up in the hands of the opposition.

At the halfway point of the season, the Tactix are top of the table, ahead of the Mystics in second place, and the Pulse third.