Magic 49 Mystics 46
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic survived their sternest challenge from a New Zealand outfit this season, scraping past the Northern Mystics in Hamilton last night.
After a convincing, but somewhat anti-climatic nine-goal win to the Magic in the first meeting between the two sides, the fixture finally delivered the tight
tussle expected from two teams stacked with talent.
But after putting the Magic under huge pressure for long stretches of the match, a couple of costly lapses again proved the Mystics undoing.
The Auckland side were brilliant on defence, picking up 11 intercepts to the Magic's five and forcing turnovers through their ferocious full-court defensive effort.
But Mystics' star Joline Henry said her side lacked the composure at crucial times.
"To tell you the truth I'm ggggrrrrrr. I've got more words than I want to say. But I will say I'm disappointed," she said.
"Just at crucial times we tend to make errors, when we should have been putting the foot down. That's probably as a team where we're lacking at the moment."
"We get the momentum and we don't know how to just keep it ticking along."
The same could be said for almost all of the Mystics' losses this season. After some strong off-season recruiting, the Auckland side had high hopes of overtaking the Magic as New Zealand's number one side in the ANZ Championship.
But things haven't gone according to plan for the Mystics, whose disappointing loss to the Magic in round three started a three-game losing streak.
They arrested that slide against the Canterbury Tactix last weekend, but last night's loss puts them back in the red with a three win, four loss record.
The Magic consolidated their place in the top four, with five wins and a loss, and a game in hand.
The Magic made a fast start, rocketing out to a 7-2 lead after just over five minutes of play. But the Mystics pegged back some of the deficit through some strong defensive plays from Henry.
Captain Temepara George, starting at wing attack for the second consecutive week, was instrumental in settling the visitors' attack end, using impressive ball-speed to beat the much vaunted Magic defenders
By the first break the Mystics trailed 14-11, but could have been closer had it not been for two costly back-to-back misses from shooter Cathrine Latu.
The momentum stayed with the Mystics early in the second period, as the visitors closed to within one. But the Mystics went through a quiet patch mid-way through the spell as they struggled to find a way through the stifling midcourt defence.
When veteran midcourter Jenny-May Coffin was forced off with a rib injury, the Mystics appeared to benefit from the ensuing changes as George returned to her more familiar role at centre, and Grace Rasmussen came off the bench at wing attack.
With the wily George directing traffic at both ends of the court, the Mystics levelled at 24-all at halftime.
After a tight start to the third spell, the Mystics were behind by five goals going into the final period. In chase mode, they closed to within two but that was as close as they got.