The Southern Sting stayed on track for three straight national netball titles with a comprehensive 60-49 semifinal win over the Capital Shakers before 4100 screaming fans at Stadium Southland last night.
The victory well and truly made amends for the Sting's round-robin loss to the same team in Wellington last month
and it also underlined just how difficult it will be for the Canterbury Flames or Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic in next week's final, also in Invercargill.
Capital Shakers coach Tanya Dearns said the Sting's home crowd was "understandably one-eyed" and probably worth 10 goals to the Southland team.
"They've been the champions for the past two years, so it's very difficult when you're coming up against that for a start," Dearns said.
"Also, they've got 4100 screaming umpires behind them.
"A lot of that influences what's happening on the court and we let that get on top of us.
"They got a couple of good breaks on us and it created a domino effect."
Her team started well, tied the first quarter 14-all and with a little over four minutes to play in the second quarter they trailed only 23-24.
That's when the Sting slipped into overdrive, scoring five goals to one to take a critical 29-24 lead at halftime.
Even more significant was the Sting's late burst in the third quarter when they went from a 37-33 lead to a game-winning 46-36 advantage.
The Sting's relentless defensive work, where captain Bernice Mene, goal keep Megan Hutton and wing defence Lesley Nicol never let up, eventually cut the Shakers down.
The Wellington side panicked, lost their shape and attempted long, high balls to crack goal shoot Irene van Dyk. Sometimes it worked. More often than not it didn't, especially when the pressure was on in the final two quarters.
Sting shooter Janine Topia again played well, sinking 35 of her 46 shots and moving well around the circle.
A delighted Sting coach Robyn Broughton said: "That's four years in a row we've made the final. That's pretty hard to do.
"When you look at it, it has been a tremendous team effort, a lot of team work. A lot of people had written us off."
- NZPA
