Netball: Men play part in Diamonds' success

By Sarah Nealon

Warming-up against a men's netball team was a key ingredient to the Auckland Diamonds' nailbiting win over the Southern Sting yesterday.

In a game as fast as it was furious, the Diamonds beat the Southern Sting 50-48 in the fourth round of the Coca-Cola Cup at the ASB Stadium.

At Papatoetoe, the Canterbury Flames had their first win of the league, scorching the CMTV Cometz 60-51.

Flames shooters Sonia Butler and Lisa Gregory were on fire as their team led at every quarter.

The opposition failed to keep pace and suffered as they made silly mistakes and lost Janine Topia and Renee Jacobsen through injury.

The Northern Force had to fight for every point to beat the Capital Shakers at home, 42-40. At halftime the visitors led by three, but at the next quarter the Shakers were up by one. Force defenders Lorna Suafoa and Sheryl Clarke were outstanding in turning the game around once more.

The unbeaten Otago Rebels had another easy victory, thrashing the Western Flyers 67-50 in Dunedin.

With a bye on Friday night, Diamonds coach Tania Karauira had her team play the Auckland men's netball side for practice.

"It was to our advantage that we didn't play in the cup on Friday. Some of our bench players hadn't played for two games and we needed to get them seasoned," she said.

"When we introduced two new players to the game in the last quarter, I think they had really benefited from Friday's play."

Playing before a noisy home crowd, the Diamonds got off to a roaring start, leading 13-7 in the first quarter and 27-21 at halftime.

Shooters Leonie Leaver and Kiri Adams outsmarted the Sting defenders as they moved quickly around the circle to put the ball gracefully through the hoop.

At the other end of the court, lanky goal keep Kate Dowling kept the pressure on double international Donna Loffhagen. Playing at goal shoot, Loffhagen appeared to be feeling the heat as she struggled with her shooting.

Classy play from the Diamonds unsettled the Southerners as the Sting had difficulties finding space in the midcourt.

But in the third quarter, the on-court tension rose as the visitors came from behind to even the score.

Despite colliding mid-air with Diamonds defenders Dowling and Kelly Preece and hurting her knee, Loffhagen played on. But the humidity aggravated Preece's blistering feet and she sat out the last 15 minutes.

The Sting were in no mood to surrender. Loffhagen's shooting picked up and the scoring went point-for-point.

Two minutes before fulltime, the score was tied at 48-all.

In Dunedin, Rebels coach Georgina Salter made frequent on-court changes to her team, which proved to be beneficial.

Rebels shooter Jo Steed had another steady game, as did defender Katie Fay. The Flyers were unable to keep up and trailed at every quarter.