Thunderbirds 51
Magic 37
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic's ANZ Championship title dreams are over.
The talented line-up packed full of Silver Ferns crashed to a 14-goal defeat to a niggly Adelaide Thunderbirds outfit in last night's preliminary final in Hamilton.
The Thunderbirds will now go on to face the Melbourne Vixens in an all-Australian grand final on Sunday, while the Magic will be left to dissect a disappointing season.
After an impressive start the wheels began coming off for the Magic two weeks ago when they suffered a humiliating final-round 19-goal loss to the Thunderbirds.
It was a confidence-knocking blow they could never recover from - another heavy defeat to the Vixens came in last week's major semifinal.
Given the Magic's late-season collapse, last night's result seemed almost inevitable. But such a heavy defeat is nevertheless puzzling given the big names in their side - there are five frontline Silver Ferns in their line-up.
But like their meeting two weeks ago, the Thunderbirds were simply too slick, too fast and too classy. Many would also add "too physical".
Ultimately what cost the Magic was their inability to handle the physicality of the Thunderbirds defence. But you could argue the Magic should never have had to wear some of the late charges and off-the-ball holding by the Adelaide defenders.
Thunderbirds wing defence Jo Sutton was warned after just seven minutes for persistent infringing, and twice more in the fourth period. She was probably lucky to remain on the court for the entire 60 minutes.
The Magic received welcome news before the first centre pass, with wing attack Frances Solia, who has been struggling with a calf injury for the past couple of weeks, declared fit.
From the energy that both sides put out on court from the opening whistle, it was clear that there were high stakes involved in the match.
There was barely a ball that went uncontested in the opening period, as both sides exerted a great deal of pressure on defence.
After looking a little rusty last weekend, the Magic defensive pairing of Casey Williams and Jodi Tod showed a much better understanding.
But the Magic struggled to convert their wealth of turnover ball down the other end, with the Thunderbirds defending through the court.
A couple of misunderstandings in the shooting circle between Irene van Dyk and Maria Tutaia towards the end of the opening spell proved costly, allowing the visitors to take a 11-8 lead at the end of a low-scoring opening quarter.
The heavy defensive blows continued after the first break, as the physicality lifted notably. Some of the Thunderbirds' off-the-ball work was extremely cynical, and with the umpires not wise to the visitors' tactics, the Magic became increasingly flustered as the quarter wore on.
The hosts had chances to close the gap, but let the Thunderbirds off the hook each time with untimely errors.
By halftime the Thunderbirds held a handy 24-18 lead. They pushed the match virtually beyond doubt in the early stages of the third period, scoring the opening three goals to make the Magic's chances of launching a comeback nigh impossible.
The Magic struggled to get the ball into their shooting circle as the Thunderbirds enjoyed the bulk of the possession in the third period, their lead unassailable.
Although the Magic fought hard in the final period there was no way back for them, with the well-drilled Thunderbirds extending their lead out to 17 goals midway through the quarter. The Adelaide side then added insult to injury in the late stages of the quarter, clearing their bench during a stoppage in play.
