Netball: Flames finally burn off gutsy Shakers

By RICHARD BOOCK

The Canterbury Flames netballers underlined their national league title prospects yesterday when they emerged from the tighest scrap of the round with a 57-55 win over Wellington's Capital Shakers.

Touted as the Coca-Cola Cup's match of the day, the north-south clash lived up to its billing during a seesawing battle in which the Flames managed to grab a game-deciding break in the last couple of minutes of the final quarter.

The win has left the Flames unbeaten after the third round with a game in hand, and already looking a good bet to snare one of the four semifinal places, alongside defending champions Sting, the North Shore's Force and probably the Shakers.

The Sting were able to preserve their unbeaten record after toppling the Auckland Diamonds 58-51 on Saturday, while the Force remained at the top of the table following yesterday's 66-51 win over the Western Flyers.

The only teams who look to be falling off the pace in terms of semifinal placings are the Otago Rebels (over-run 47-55 by the Bay of Plenty Magic yesterday) and Counties Manukau's Cometz, both of whom are awaiting their first win of the competition.

There were no such problems for the Flames, however, who followed up their opening round win over the Cometz with another compelling performance through the court yesterday, coming back from a mid-game slump to wrap up the winning points in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 11-16 after a slow first quarter, the Shakers took the second period 17-7 to reduce the deficit to 28-29 at halftime, and were still very much in the game at the three-quarter mark, at which point the scores were locked at 40-40.

It was only a couple of late intercepts from mercurial Flames goal-keep Vilimaina Davu which swayed the game towards the Cantabrians, and last year's beaten finalists were able to cling on to their advantage down the stretch.

"It was a good game to watch," Flames and former Silver Ferns' coach Leigh Gibbs said afterwards.

"I could do without the anxiety, but it was a great atmosphere and the scoreline was fluctuating throughout, so it was good enterainment and good for the game."

Gibbs started her strongest line-up against the Shakers, combining Angela Evans and Belinda Colling in the shooting circle, Margaret Foster, Maree Grubb and Jo Andrew through the mid-court, and Anna Veronese and Davu in the defensive circle.

She brought mid-courter Tasha Marshall into the game for Grubb at the halfway mark, but otherwise ran a fairly settled line-up and was repaid with a strong and urgent effort at the most important time in the game.

As expected, the match-up between the Shakers' goal-shoot Irene van Dayk and Davu was a highlight.

"We always knew the focus would be on Irene, but there was no way we could have singled her out, and we appreciated that the threat was across the court, rather than simply one position.

"That said, Irene was awesome and it was only because of some excellent work from players such as Colling and Foster that we were able to come through.

"Vilimaina had a tremendous game as well, and probably emerged with Irene on even-pegging, but she grabbed a couple of crucial intercepts late in the piece and that probably decided the game."

Shakers coach Tanya Dearns was encouraged by her side's effort in some ways, but was left lamenting a couple of telling lapses which gave the Flames a handy advantage.

"We started slowly and we lost our way slightly in the last quarter," Dearns (nee Cox) said.

"I was encouraged to see them fight back to level the scores with about nine minutes left.

"However, Vilimaina pulled off a couple of intercepts and the game was gone.

"You never enjoy losing, but it was good to at least come away with a bonus point, and it was also encouraging to see the team fight back from a real slump - we were heading for a hiding at one stage - to give themselves a chance of winning."

Dearns said the Shakers were still hopeful of securing a semifinal placing at the end of the competition, but would seek to address the concerns that arose in Christchurch and would continue to search for the sort of form which could make them genuine contenders.

The competition takes a break over Easter weekend, after which Dearns' Shakers host the Sting in round four.