Netball: Sting too strong for fading Force

By JULIE ASH

The Southern Sting won their fifth consecutive national netball title last night, beating North Harbour's Force 51-49 in Invercargill.

In front of 4000 vocal Southland fans, the Sting overcame a slow start to win the National Bank Cup in an extremely physical and intense battle.

Aware her side had to control the Sting's powerful attacking unit, Force coach Yvonne Willering opted for the same lineup that beat the Magic last week, with Linda Vagana and Kate Dowling as goal keep and goal defence and Sheryl Clarke as wing defence.

The move paid off. Vagana and Dowling combined tremendously to restrict the Sting's mobile shooters, Tania Dalton and Donna Loffhagen.

Not surprisingly, it was a nervous start from both teams.

After several turnovers, almost a minute and a half had gone before the Sting managed to score from the first pass-off.

Force shooter Daneka Wipiiti put to rest any concerns over her shooting and started the match with an abundance of confidence, despite plenty of pressure from Sting goalkeep Megan Hutton.

In a quarter full of turnovers, the Force defence attacked at every opportunity and gained plenty of possession.

The Force should have been up by more than 14-9 at the first quarter, but misdirected passes and missed shots allowed the Sting to keep the game tight.

But after their promising start it all fell apart for the North Harbour side in the second quarter.

Hutton got the better of Wipiiti, whose shots went astray, handing the Sting valuable possession.

With just over four minutes to play in the second quarter, the Sting got themselves back on level pegging at 21-all.

The match turned scrappy towards the end of the second quarter but for the Force the damage was done. The Sting went into the break ahead 25-24.

The frustration for the Force defence continued into the third quarter as valuable possession was lost on attack.

With the game tied at 35-all going into the last quarter, the Sting's experience shone through in the last 15 minutes.

Their discipline made it impossible for the Force to regain control, and the Sting won the match by a mere two goals.

Sting coach Robyn Broughton said she was "exhausted".

"It was really hard, it was really physical and very difficult. We just had to hang in there."