The Northern Stars' unbeaten run in the ANZ Premiership has come to an end, at the hands of the two-time defending champions.
The Central Pulse have endured a tough start to their quest to win a threepeat, losing four of their first five games, buttoday found their title-winning form, toppling the Stars in a surprisingly lopsided clash, 57-44.
The Stars had won five straight games to claim early favouritism for the campaign, including a first-round victory over the Pulse, but the Pulse turned the tables in Auckland.
Their second-half effort proved pivotal, after a back-and-forth first half saw the Stars win the opening quarter, before the Pulse took a one-goal lead into halftime.
However, the Pulse broke the shackles in the third quarter, winning it 16-9, and pulled away further in the final stanza to win by 13.
The defensive trio of goal keep Kelera Nawai, Kelly Jury and Maddy Gordon were impressive, with Nawai claiming five intercepts and holding the usually-prolific Stars captain Maia Wilson to just 23 goals on 29 attempts.
Wilson was even benched in a rare move by Stars coach Kiri Wills, while defensive stalwart Anna Harrison spent time off the court after limping off with an injury. However, the Pulse were always going to be hard to beat in this form, as they stalled the Stars attack and produced some superb play at the opposite end.
Silver Fern Whitney Souness was excellent and goal attack Te Amo Amaru-Tibble took on an impressive workload, shooting 22/27, to support goal shoot Aliyah Dunn, who ended with 35 goals on 39 attempts as the Pulse produced a template to follow for the rest of the season.
The Pulse jump into fourth after the victory with nine points, level with the Southern Steel, who host the fifth-placed Mainland Tactix in Invercargill tomorrow night.
The Stars stay at the top of the ladder on 15 points, and will remain atop the standings regardless of results tomorrow, as they sit four points clear of the Northern Mystics, who visit the last-placed Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in Tauranga tomorrow night.
