KEY POINTS:
She suspected her side would feel the full force of a scorned Waikato side and that's exactly what happened when Melissa Walker's North lined up against the defending champions in the national netball championships in Palmerston North yesterday.
Walker had warned her side Waikato would come out all
guns blazing following their loss to Otago in the opening rounds of the competition but her players forget to take the message on board until the final quarter where they were lucky to fight back and claim a 56-54 win.
A rejuvenated Waikato side took it to their northern rivals showing, Silver Ferns or no Silver Ferns, they are not going to relinquish their national title easily.
But it is not going to be easy without marquee players such as Irene Van Dyk, Laura Langman and defenders Casey Williams and Joline Henry who are all working with the national squad in preparation for the world championships in November.
For three-quarters of the match it looked like they were back on track. But it all turned pear shaped in the final quarter when North claimed several turnovers which they quickly converted into points.
In the last quarter North made three changes moving Megan Dehn from goal attack to wing attack, Angelina Yates from wing attack to centre and bringing youngster Jacqueline Tate on at goal attack.
The changes seemed to stabilise the flustered North side.
"They kept their composure and at the end of the day that is what won us the game," Walker said.
Goal shoot Catherine Latu was at the heart of the fightback, monopolising the scoring with 42 from 46 attempts overshadowing counterpart Hayley Stockman (37/47).
She was happy to take the win, which secured North a spot in the top three in their section but Walker was not impressed with her side's abysmal start.
"We played an absolute shocker," Walker said.
"We didn't come out firing yet we talked about it so I'll have to go back and address that.
"But thankfully the tenacity of the team came through in the end.
"We were lucky that we kept working hard in the last four minutes and we came through."
Waikato will have to beat Canterbury today to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Otago are expected to beat Eastern and so advance to the next stage leaving the final spot in Section A open to the winner of the Waikato and Canterbury match.
Auckland Waitakere kept their unbeaten record in Section B intact with a comfortable win over Western.
The match got off to an extremely slow start with the Anna Scarlett-led Auckland Waitakere ahead by just 8-5 in the first quarter.
But both sides got their skates on in the second quarter and Auckland Waitakere stormed out to a 23-13 halftime advantage which set the foundation for the 47-34 victory.
In other first grade matches Eastern edged out Counties Manukau 37-33.
Southland escaped with a one-goal 40-39 win over Wellington, Bay of Plenty beat Tasman 65-37 and Otago beat Canterbury 43-39 in a thrilling encounter.