Strong second half gets Magic home
Kia Magic cleared a major hurdle in the race to the play-offs with a battling 58-52 win over the Southern Steel in Rotorua on Sunday.
The win cemented fourth spot on the table for Kia Magic while also reversing the seven-goal loss suffered at the hands of the Steel two weeks ago, the southerners now with a tough job ahead to secure a place in the play-offs.
Behind for the first half, Kia Magic made a decisive move in the third quarter, their attacking line finding more flow and drive while the defensive unit of Laura Langman, Jodi Tod-Elliott, Casey Kopua and Leana de Bruin’s combined pressure conspired to bustle Steel into errors.
Kia Magic retained their winning line-up of the previous week, meaning a second successive start for wing defence for Tod-Elliott while Steel also stuck with their tried and true, the minor surprise being Storm Purvis coming in at goalkeeper ahead of Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick.
The home team made the early running, Kia Magic getting extra opportunities as they turned Steel errors into goals. Shooters Irene van Dyk and Erin Halpenny mixed up their play well to open up Kia Magic’s circle as they shot out to a four-goal lead.
The visitors gradually found their feet, Phillipa Finch and captain Jodi Brown showing growing success with the long bomb into key shooting weapon Jhaniele Fowler. Able to score quickly, Steel soon levelled up, four straight goals finishing the quarter in style as the visitors took a 16-14 lead into the first break.
Kia Magic were quickly back on even terms before sloppy and untidy play handed the advantage back to the southerners. The home team were guilty of too many soft errors, slick interplay between the crafty Brown and dominant Fowler helping Steel power out to a seven-goal advantage and threatening to run away with proceedings.
Struggling on attack in the face of strong pressure from Rachel Rasmussen and Purvis, Kia Magic regrouped to stage their own forceful reply. Finding their timing as the game went up a notch or two in intensity, the home team scored five goals on the trot to repair some of the damage.
The quarter ended up all square, Steel retaining their two-goal advantage to lead 30-28 at the main break.
While Steel introduced fresh legs in Shannon Francois at wing attack and Tone-Fitzpatrick (goalkeeper) for the second half, it was Kia Magic who made the biggest impact. Making no changes, Kia Magic sprung into life to show more urgency and control on attack.
Van Dyk and Halpenny found their groove with better movement and positioning while Kopua and de Bruin turned up the defensive heat on Brown and Fowler. With the assured 1.98m Fowler previously proving almost unstoppable, the growing intensity provided a few valuable turnover crumbs for Kia Magic who pounced.
Outscoring their opponents 15 goals to 11, it was Kia Magic who went into the final break with their tails up when leading 43-41.
More big defence from Kopua and de Bruin gave Kia Magic the perfect start as they scored the first four goals on the resumption while keeping Steel scoreless for over three minutes.
With their confidence growing, Kia Magic powered into overdrive, the flow coming into their game as Steel buckled under the pressure, their mounting error count opening the door for the home team. Van Dyk was in commanding form to convert 35 goals from 36 attempts while Fowler was equally impressive with 39 from 40.
