Netball: Flames are just too hot for the Force

By RICHARD BOOCK

The North Harbour-based Force slipped into dangerous territory last night when they were beaten 41-50 by the Canterbury Flames to leave their netball national league playoff prospects in doubt.

Joint leaders with the Magic before last night, the Force shared the first half of their showdown 23-23 at the North Shore Events Centre before being outpointed by nine in the second half.

In the process, they slipped back into fourth-equal place on the table.

On a night in which the Coca Cola Cup standings received a lively shake-up, the Flames joined the Capital Shakers and the Southern Sting at the top of the competition ladder with 21 points, four clear of the chasing Magic and Force.

The Force have another tough assignment awaiting them in their final round-robin match tomorrow, squaring off against the Shakers at home, and then sitting out the final weekend with the bye.

Tanya Dearns' Shakers had a difficult enough path to the playoffs as it was, with their last two matches against the Force and the Magic, but they almost made it twice as hard last night at the Queens Wharf Events Centre.

Fancied to steamroll the struggling Auckland Diamonds, the Shakers in fact trailed 29-30 at halftime and 42-44 at the three-quarter mark before storming back to win the final period 17-12 and the match 59-56.

Auckland were behind 11-15 after the first quarter, but were sparked into life by some strong shooting from Monika Gabriel, who was brought into the game by coach Georgie Salter at the start of the second quarter.

The Western Flyers continued their resurgence in the league, knocking over the Otago Rebels 61-53 in Dunedin to complete back-to-back wins after their nailbiter against the Diamonds last week.

The Palmerston North-based Flyers made a slow start and trailed by two at the end of the first quarter. But they were leading 50-41 at the final break and have now overtaken the Diamonds and moved into sixth place on the ladder.

Further south, the Sting flexed their muscles at the business end of the competition, over-running the Counties-Manukau Cometz 62-42 in Invercargill to reinforce their title hopes.

In other matches tomorrow, the Magic face a huge challenge against the Sting at the fanatical Stadium Southland, the Flames host the Flyers at Christchurch, and the Cometz travel north to take on the Rebels at Dunedin.