Superb Steel find form to hammer Magic
The Southern Steel’s home stadium legacy lives on. Blowing the WaikatoBay of Plenty Magic off the court in front of an excited home crowd at Invercargill’s Stadium Southland, the Steel posted an impressive 73-53 win — the highest score of the 2019 ANZ Premiership season so far.
Stoked with her side’s dominant 20-goal win last night, Steel captain Te Huinga Selby-Rickit felt they had finally found the same flow which led to the title last year.
“We do a lot of work on retaining
the ball and scoring when we need to and pushing when we get a lead,” she said. “I was stoked with that score against a good team like the Magic.
“We don’t like to throw away the ball. If we have to throw it around [hundreds] of times, we will do that just to make sure we get it in . . . hopefully we keep going with it.”
Although the Steel gained an early lead in the opening quarter, it didn’t take long for the Magic to match their pace and show signs of brilliance.
Magic captain Casey Kopua led her defence unit in the shooting circle to cause problems for Steel goal attack Te Paea Selby-Rickit, while Steel import Lenize Potgieter had her own challenges trying to escape the long arms of Magic defender Kelly Jury.
Potgieter was forced out from her comfort zone under the hoop as Jury applied the pressure, but when the Silver Ferns defender was benched in the second quarter, the tables turned. The hosts suddenly extended their lead from one to 11, capitalising on every Magic mistake.
Selby-Rickit led from the front, snatching four intercepts in the shooting circle, while midcourters Gina Crampton and Shannon Saunders effortlessly found their shooters with a combined 91 feeds.
The Magic started the third quarter with an array of positional changes but nothing seemed to disrupt the Steel’s flow. Kopua desperately tried to help her side close the gap, snatching vital intercepts in the circle throughout the final stanza, but the Magic’s attacking end failed to convert as the Steel comfortably secured their third straight win.