KEY POINTS:
The Swifts became the only Australian franchise to sneak out of NZ with a win in round 10 of the ANZ Championship after edging past the Northern Mystics in overtime last night.
The Mystics held a three-goal lead heading in to the final period, but the Swifts produced a late resurgence to level the score in the final seconds of regular time, after a questionable umpiring decision against Vilimaina Davu gave Swifts shooter Catherine Cox an opportunity to tie the game at 50-all.
And it was the Swifts who kept their heads down the home stretch to win 64-62 after two seven-minute extra time periods.
A gutted Temepara George expressed her disappointment to lose the match in that fashion after having the Swifts on the ropes.
"Catherine Cox actually came up to me after the game and said, `Vili didn't even touch me'," she said of the contentious late call.
Mystics coach Yvonne Willering was furious. "When two teams work so hard for that for 60 minutes, the umpires have a responsibility as well."
The result further congested the leaderboard with the top four Australian franchises all on 12 points, behind the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic, who have a four-point lead.
The Mystics' sixth loss of the season ends any hope the Auckland side had of making the play-offs.
The visitors made a hesitant start as they took time to adjust to the zone defence, with cross-court passes leading to plenty of intercepts for the home side. The Mystics were able to glean a 12-8 lead in the latter stages of the opening spell on the back of a string of turnovers from the Swifts.
But some sloppy play in the Mystics attack end allowed the Swifts to draw level by the first break at 12-all.
The Mystics produced a much tidier second quarter as the new-look shooting combination of Cathrine Latu and Grace Rasmussen began to gel. With Rasmussen producing strong movement and feeding the ball well, the Mystics were up 25-22 at halftime.
The Swifts changed their defensive line-up but the new combinations took time to find their rhythm and the Mystics eased six goals clear, but had it pegged it back to 38-35 at three-quarter time.
Costly Mystic errors helped the Swifts get three goals up with 2min left, before the home side battled back in the frantic final two minutes to send the game into overtime and the dramatic conclusion.
