Firebirds 53 Magic 42
The woeful record of Kiwi teams in Australia is worsening by the week, after New Zealand's two top hopes for ANZ Championship glory this season both suffered crushing defeats in their fourth-round transtasman match-ups.
Twenty-four hours after the Southern Steel copped what captain Adine Wilson labelled a "good old-fashioned hiding" against the Melbourne Vixens, the star-studded Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic suffered a shock loss to the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane.
The 53-42 defeat, the Magic's first of the season, leaves the Australian sides three from three after a weekend of transtasman match-ups.
They look set to make it a clean sweep tonight with the NSW Swifts out to arrest a two-game losing streak when they take on the Northern Mystics in Sydney, while the Adelaide Thunderbirds are favoured to topple the Canterbury Tactix in Christchurch.
Of all the clashes over the weekend, the Magic had looked the most likely of the Kiwi sides to get one over their Aussie opposition and at the same time break the New Zealand duck across the Tasman.
It is the competition's most quoted statistic and the albatross around the Kiwis' necks: no New Zealand side has been able to win in Australia since the inception of the competition.
Their inability to do so must be the cause of increasing alarm for not only Kiwi franchise coaches but also for Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken.
The Magic, a shadow Silver Ferns side, were simply outplayed and out-hustled by the Firebirds, who don't appear to boast the same all-round strength of the "big three" Australian franchises.
The Firebirds defensive trio of Laura Geitz, Demelza McCloud and Clare McMeniman did a superb job of stifling the Magic attack, with the visitors unable to play their free-flowing style of game.
With the Magic copping close attention with every ball, they became increasingly frustrated as the match wore on, and their error rate began to climb, leading to an uncharacteristic 32 turnovers for the game.
Magic co-captain Irene van Dyk, who had a fierce battle with talented young Australian defender Geitz in the goal circle, said her side were lacking in timing and precision on attack yesterday.
"They pushed us wide and created voids throughout the court that we just couldn't punch through - we struggled a bit with our timing in getting the ball down our end. We just couldn't get our tempo," said van Dyk, who shot 30 goals from 32 attempts, after finishing with 100 per cent records in her previous two matches.
