Netball: Waikato and North qualify for decider

The national netball championships turned on two edge-of-the-seat semifinals here tonight.

North and Waikato will meet in the final tomorrow while Canterbury and Auckland will contest the playoff for third.

North beat Canterbury 41-39 in the first semifinal, with Waikato later nudging out Auckland 60-59.

North coach Yvonne Willering was unsatisfied with her side's performance.

"That was a game where we put ourselves under incredible pressure," she said.

"At crunch times, the shots had to go in and they didn't and we became very hesitant which was reflected throughout the whole court.

"The team that is going to win this tournament is the team that makes the least mistakes, but tonight that was not quite right because I thought we made a ton of mistakes."

North led 11-9 after the first quarter but Canterbury turned the tables to lead 21-19 at halftime.

Canterbury had been the master of squeaking through in tight games at the tournament, and the longer the match went on the more likely a repeat performance appeared.

Willering was forced into changes. Daneka Wipiiti moved to goal shoot and Bridgette Tapene came on at goal attack, with Catherine Latu dropping to the bench.

But in the end, the match was decided when Anna Thompson lost sight of a pass which bounced off her head and out of court.

North capitalised, scoring down the other end to win the match.

Canterbury wore black armbands during the match to commemorate the passing of teammate Jessica Leech's grandfather.

Waikato did just enough to qualify for the final.

It all looked pretty familiar in the first half, with Waikato getting out to a 35-23 lead.

Laura Langman was running into gaps and finding her shooters with ease and Irene van Dyk was shooting goals.

The Silver Ferns defender shot at 100 per cent in the first quarter and repeated that effort in the vital last period.

Van Dyk was successful with 49 of her 51 attempts on goal.

However, whatever was said in the Auckland camp at halftime worked.

Auckland came out a different team, and with the passes sticking the goals began to drop.

Auckland outscored Waikato 18-12 and kept the momentum going into the last quarter.

Trailing 41-47, Auckland pegged the deficit back bit by bit.

But a couple of clutch goals by Anna Senio in the dying minutes helped keep Waikato in front.

With the timekeeper making her way towards the umpire, Auckland threw a desperate pass which Joline Henry knocked out of court, ending the drama for Waikato.

Results:

First division semifinals: Waikato 60 Auckland 59, North 41 Canterbury 39.

Tomorrow's final: Waikato v North.

Other matches: Wellington 64 Counties-Manukau 24, Counties-Manukau 2 44 Eastern B 42, Canterbury Country 53 Bay of Plenty Blue 36, Otago 47 Western 37, Otago B 55 Canterbury B 43, Western-Taranaki 45 Southland B 39, Southland 48 Eastern 47, North Maroon 61 Waikato B 30, Wellington 2 71 Otago C 44, Bay of Plenty 54 Tasman 40.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES