Netball: Diamonds squeeze into semis

By Sarah Nealon

A nervous phone call to her mother by the Diamonds' Nicky Read told the Auckland side they had made the semifinals of the national netball league.

After defeating the Western Flyers 60-50, the Diamonds had to wait for the outcome of the Canterbury Flames-Otago Rebels game to see whether they had earned enough points to make the top four of the Coca-Cola Cup.

"All the cellphones came out and we rang everybody we could think of," said Diamonds goal attack Kylie Hall.

"Nicky Read rang her mum who was watching it on TV and she gave us a running commentary.

"People had wiped us off the board, and we knew we had to win - and that others had to lose."

A shock loss to the Waikato-Bay-of-Plenty Magic by the Northern Force almost cost them a place in the semis.

Defeated 42-47, they would have been thankful for their bonus point.

They, too, would have been jittery about the outcome of the Flames-Rebels match, which the Canterbury side led until the final minutes.

The Rebels' comeback win, 60-56 from being 10 goals down, made them top-qualifiers and they will meet the Diamonds in Dunedin on Sunday.

The Southern Sting, who had a comfortable victory over the Capital Shakers, will play the Northern Force in Invercargill on Friday night.

The style in which the Rebels extinguished the Flames hopes yesterday, proved what a class act the Otago team are and what a gulf there is between the two most southern sides and the rest of the netball country.

Standout performances by Flames defenders Lisa Gregory and Silver Fern Belinda Charteris upset the Otago team as they struggled to find their form.

In an unusual move, the umpire stopped the game in the third quarter and ordered the Rebels to stop calling the on-court errors.

Several minutes later play was again halted when the scoring officials were unsure if they had the correct points on the board.

Impressive play from the Flames gave them the advantage in the first three quarters, but the Rebels pulled away in the final spell.

Adine Harper, who has played shooter for the Rebels throughout the cup, was brought on in the last 15 minutes to play goal defence.

Coach Georgina Salter has had difficulty finding a suitable player for the position, since Charteris moved to Christchurch to play for the Flames.

In Invercargill, a strong Southern Sting side managed to hold off the Capital Shakers at every quarter to confirm their semifinal standing.

"We wanted a semi at home," said Sting coach Robin Broughton. "We went out all guns."

Despite the efforts from Shakers wing defence Debbie Matoe and centre Amanda Dunlop, the Sting beat the Wellington team 56-47 and knocked them out of the competition.

Broughton said the shooting skills of former Silver Fern Julie Carter were outstanding against strong defence from the experienced Tanya Cox.
Carter shot 21 goals from 24 attempts.

Failure to find an effective on-court combination almost cost the Northern Force a place in the semifinals when they lost to the team at the bottom of the points table.

Silver Fern Jenny May Coffin who normally plays a fast, feisty game at centre was away in Australia playing touch rugby for New Zealand.

In her absence, the Force had great difficulty getting the ball through the mid-court.

Unlike the Magic, who found it easy to create the space, the Force let themselves down by literally throwing the ball away. Too often there was no one waiting to catch the pass.

"We had a terrible start," said Force coach Alison Wieringa. "We didn't look properly when we threw the ball and that made it hard to get it to the goal circle."