Mystics 61
Pulse 60
The Northern Mystics have once again got out of jail against the Central Pulse, denying the Wellington side their first transtasman league win after scraping through in overtime.
Leading 50-48 with one and a half minutes on the clock, the Pulse looked to be on the verge of breaking their drought in the ANZ Championship. But panic appeared to set in to the Pulse line in the dying seconds as the Mystics, desperate not to become the first side to lose to the Wellington side, fought back to level it 50-all.
The Pulse were in control for much of the two seven minute overtime periods, but once again inexperience showed and the Mystics managed to sneak away with an unconvincing win, thanks to some cool shooting from Jade Topia down the stretch.
The Mystics just managed to edge out the Pulse in their round two match-up, blowing a healthy lead at the start to win by just four goals.
After failing to impress in their earlier meeting with the Pulse, Mystics coach Te Aroha Keenan came in to the match demanding consistency from her side.
What she got was their most topsy-turvy performance of the season, with the Mystics unable to put the Pulse away after leading by up to six goals at one stage in the match.
With the two sides sitting at the bottom of the championship standings, the standard of play in the match at times reflected their lowly positions.
The opening quarter was punctuated by sloppy play and basic errors from both sides, with the sideline statisticians kept busy tallying up the turnovers.
The Mystics looked particularly muddled in the first period, as their attack end struggled to find their flow early on, leaving themselves vulnerable against a fired up Pulse defensive line.
With the Mystics hesitant on the feed, Jamaican import Althea Byfield and Bessie Manu were able to force a number of turnovers from the visiting shooters.
Though the Pulse were guilty of making too many wayward passes of their own on attack, they were able to eke out a four-goal lead mid-way through the period.
The Mystics pegged the home side's advantage back to two at the first break, but were still looking shaky.
The injection of Keshia Grant at wing-attack in place of Grace Rasmussen in the second quarter helped settle the Mystics' attack, with the agility and speed of Grant, in tandem with Temepara George and Pamela Cookey, opening things up.
Having found their rhythm the Mystics quickly overturned the deficit, taking the lead for the first time in the match two minutes in to the second spell. That lead stretched to as many as six midway through the period after the Pulse missed a couple of sitters under the posts.
With Pulse shooter Jamilah Gupwell appearing to lose her nerve in the shooting circle, coach Yvette McCausland-Durie opted to bench her during an injury break, allowing youngster Te Amo Amaru-Tibble to make her championship debut.
Amaru-Tibble made a confident start, nailing her first few shots at goal to put the Pulse back within four at halftime.
Leading 26-22 at the break, the Mystics seemed to take their foot off the accelerator in the third period, as the Pulse defenders stepped up their work rate.
Byfield and defensive partner Cushla Lichtwark did an impressive job of disrupting play in the Mystics shooting circle, limiting the effectiveness of Cathrine Latu.
Paula Griffin calmly slotted a shot in the dying seconds of the third quarter to tie the game up at 35-all.
Topia came on for Latu in the final spell and Gupwell was re-introduced at goal-shoot for the Pulse. The Pulse had the better of the Mystics for most of the final period, before a couple of errors later in the match allowed the visitors to level the score at 50-all to send the match to overtime.
