Magic 46
Pulse 44
Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic were made to sweat it out but the result was never seriously in doubt as they beat Central Pulse in a transtasman netball league match in Wellington last night.
New Zealand's top ANZ Championship franchise secured their third successive win of the season, which was good enough to promote them to the top of the points table ahead of matches against stiffer Australian opposition.
The Pulse seem destined for another trying season, with last night's setback representing their 40th defeat in 42 league matches as the competition enters its fourth season.
They began strongly but fell away as the Magic's experienced international core began to impose themselves.
The Pulse's tenacious qualities could not be questioned, as shown in the third quarter when they outscored the Magic 11-9 when wing defence Cushla Lichtwark came to the fore but they lacked enough personnel of sufficient quality and experience to cause an upset.
That dragged them to within three of the two-time finallists at 32-35 entering the final quarter, and they trimmed the difference to two early before the Magic's hardnosed Silver Ferns defender Casey Williams muscled up to disrupt their flow and snaffle important possession.
Again the Pulse came back, closing to within two with one minute remaining, and again the Magic responded.
Waikato-Bay of Plenty's ageless goal shoot Irene van Dyk led the scoring statistics yet again, with her return of 32 from 36 attempts as ever a constant source of comfort to her teammates.
The Pulse's major shooting weapon, Caitlin Thwaites, was busy also in slotting 27 of her 34 attempts.
The match began in bizarre circumstances when a fire siren sounded, leading to the indoor venue on the Wellington waterfront being evacuated after just seven minutes.
Play resumed after a break of 16 minutes once fire service personnel declared it a false alarm.
The Pulse maintained the early intensity once play restarted and deserved to go into the first quarter 14-11 ahead.
After a sloppy start the Magic were spurred into action and ran down that deficit to hit the front 3min into the second quarter as a 6-0 run gave them the initiative for the first time as long balls into 38-year-old van Dyk began to split the Pulse's defensive patterns.
With wing attack Frances Solia striking a potent combination with goal attack Jamilah Gupwell, the Magic began dismantling the home side at the attack end, enabling the visitors to outscore the Pulse 15-7 for the quarter to take a 26-21 lead into halftime.
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Canterbury Tactix will play their home match against the Magic on March 7 in Rotorua because of the Canterbury earthquake.
- NZPA
