KEY POINTS:
Heavily pregnant, Noeline Taurua is hardly in sit back and relax mode - but the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic coach has still derived plenty of pleasure from her side's netballing rebirth.
The Magic, undeniably wobbly over the past month, bounced back in timely fashion on Saturday by beating Canterbury Tactix 69-44 in Hamilton to secure their place in the major semifinal of the ANZ Championship.
Taurua, who is due to give birth on Thursday, will learn tonight whether the Magic will play at either Mystery Creek next Sunday or in Sydney the following night.
The New South Wales Swifts can still gain home advantage if they beat the struggling West Coast Fever tonight by a handsome margin - between 26 to 31 goals depending on how many goals Australia's bottom franchise can post.
Although Taurua will be keeping a watching brief on the Swifts' match, the former Silver Fern, while hoping for home court advantage, had no fears about crossing the Tasman after a much-improved performance.
On Saturday's evidence the Magic have rediscovered the sort of form that saw them dominate the round robin phase of the competition before successive losses raised doubts about their title credentials.
While the Tactix were already long out of contention for a semifinals berth, the manner of the Magic's victory was imperative for the Silver Ferns-laden squad.
"Overall the performance was a bit more solid than we've been able to put out for the last three or four weeks," Taurua said, understating her side's rehabilitation.
Naturally, Irene van Dyk was party to the Magic's change of fortunes - although from the unusual position of goal attack.
The ploy to switch bibs with an off-key Maria Tutaia worked, confusing the Tactix defence and giving Van Dyk's understudy more surety under the hoop.
The tactic has been used before - although against the Vixens it was a result of desperation in the final quarter when the team trailed.
However, it was a premeditated move against the Tactix and persevered with until normal service resumed in the fourth quarter.
"We worked on it at training last week, we just needed to have another look at our attack," Taurua said.
"We were getting a lot of ball in hand but those final links going into the circle were letting us down.
Tutaia had shot better than 80 per cent only twice in the competition and clearly revelled in her new posse, landing 36 from 41 while van Dyk nailed her customary 31 from 35, a 91 per cent success rate.
"It gave Maria a real boost. She was dealing with one-on-one defence in the circle and her movements were beautiful," said Taurua, revealing her shooters may also mix and match against the Swifts.
- NZPA
