Netball: Magic grab share of league lead as Force crash

By RICHARD BOOCK

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic not only conjured up an upset three-goal win over the Canterbury Flames yesterday, but also a share of the lead after the sixth round of the national netball league.

The Magic's hair-raising 45-42 win over the Flames at Tauranga left them equal on points with the Force, who yesterday fell to a 41-50 loss against the defending champions Sting in Invercargill.

In a topsy-turvy round of the Coca-Cola Cup, the Magic inflicted the first loss of the competition on Leigh Gibbs' Flames, the Force also slipped up for the first time, and the Western Flyers pipped the Auckland Diamonds 58-57 at New Plymouth to register their first win of the competition.

With three rounds of competition play remaining, the Magic and Force appear well-placed to push for a semifinals berth, although they have each played one game more than the Shakers, the Sting and the Flames, who are all locked together on 17 points.

In the bottom half of the competition, the Diamonds and the Flyers (despite their triumph in Tauranga) are not expected to come into playoff contention. The Cometz finally got off the mark with a bonus point on Friday night, and Rebels are still languishing at the bottom of the ladder.

The Magic at one stage led the Flames by eight goals yesterday after some impressive work from MVP and goal-attack Renee Jacobson, but had to withstand three strong second-half counterattacks from the Cantabrians before sealing the win.

The four points will be warmly received by Ruth Aitken's side, particularly as they sit out the next round with a bye before ending the round-robin with difficult games against the Sting (away) and the Shakers.

The Sting, beaten the previous weekend in Wellington, suggested they were far from a spent force yesterday as they dispatched North Harbour side the Force by nine goals at Stadium Southland, although only after a lively scrap through the first three quarters.

The Force led their hosts 12-10 at the first-quarter mark, but struggled to sustain the intensity and were gradually subdued, heading to the halftime break with scores level at 21-21, and then finding themselves trailing 30-35 after the third quarter.

In New Plymouth, the Flyers gave their campaign an encouraging boost after emerging from a nail-biting showdown against the Diamonds with the narrowest of wins.

After sharing the opening quarter 16-16, the Flyers found themselves 27-31 behind at halftime, but recovered to lead 54-44 at the three-quarter mark before hanging on desperately down the stretch.

The Shakers out-pointed the Cometz 61-49 at Papatoetoe to keep their title campaign on track, cruising to the win after opening up a match-deciding 32-22 lead at halftime.

The Shakers were again well-served by Silver Ferns goal-shoot Irene van Dyk, who nailed 44 from 46 attempts to remain at the top of the league's shooting rankings.