Mystics' shooter Cathrine Latu bounced back from a recent health battle to lift her side to a composed win over the Tactix in Christchurch last night.
After giving the Tactix a seven-goal head start in the opening spell, the Mystics ground down the home side, producing a strong second halfto claim a 59-53 win to top the New Zealand conference after the opening round.
With Latu still recovering from appendix surgery six weeks ago, the Mystics opted to start with new 1.92m shooting recruit Elsa Brown.
Brown made a shaky start in her ANZ Championship debut, missing a few early sitters from underneath the post and lacked the assertiveness needed at this level. Down the other end of the court another debutant was thriving, with Gemma Hazeldine impressing in her first appearance for the Tactix. The young goal attack was the talk of last month's pre-season tournament in Sydney and she proved just as comfortable on the big stage, combining brilliantly with import Mwai Kumwenda to produce some stunning play. At 1.70m tall, Hazeldine offers a very different style to other goal attacks in this country, with her speed, movement and crafty delivery into the circle hallmarks of her game.
With the Mystics struggling to find the same sort of fluency on attack, the Tactix rattled off eight straight goals to take a 17-10 lead at the first break - an advantage that could have been even greater had they not made three errors on their own centre pass early on.
Having dug themselves a pretty deep hole in the opening spell, the Mystics were forced to turn to Latu probably earlier than hoped, in the second spell.
She made an immediate impact.
By the mid-way stage of the quarter the visitors had managed to peg the deficit back to 21-17, forcing the Tactix to take a strategic time out. Tactix coach Sue Hawkins stated her intentions before the start of the season to make full use of her bench to eliminate lulls in performance.
She attempted to do so with the introduction of Jess Moulds in the defensive end and Bailey Mes in the shooting circle for Hazeldine.
But you've got to wonder if all the changes worked only to disrupt her own side's momentum rather than the opposition last night, as the Mystics continued to close on them before halftime.
After trailing 29-26 at the break, the Mystics brought it back to 30-all early in the third period before charging out to a 43-40 lead at the final turn as captain Maria Tutaia began dictating play around the shooting circle.
