By RICHARD BOOCK
Unravelling the mysteries of the Southland Sting's defence will be uppermost on the minds of the Force netballers this week.
Auckland's only representative in the national league playoffs, the North Harbour-based Force will head to Invercargill for their semifinal on Friday, after crashing to a 64-46 loss in a virtual dress rehearsal against the Sting yesterday.
In front of a capacity 3000-strong North Shore Events Centre crowd, the Force raised hopes of a massive upset after a strong first half, but could not cope with the Sting's re-shuffled defensive line in the second, during which time they were out-pointed 36-18.
The Canterbury Flames will host Wellington's Capital Shakers in the other semifinal on Sunday after they destroyed the Cometz 57-39 yesterday and finished in second position, while the Force grabbed fourth ahead of the Rebels - who miss out of the playoffs for the first time in Coca Cola Cup history.
Whatever interest has been surrounding the last minute jostling for semifinal placings, the real drama has been taking place at the foot of the table, where apparent cellar-dwellars the Magic have finished in seventh position after scoring an upset 59-58 win over the Auckland Diamonds.
Earmarked early on for the wooden spoon, the Magic gave the Shakers a fright a fortnight ago, overran the Cometz last week, and dominated the middle two thirds of yesterday's showdown (leading 36-26 at halftime and 49-40 at the three-quarter mark), before surviving a white-knuckled ride down the home stretch.
For a time, it looked as though an upset was in the air across the bridge as well, as the Force burst out to 17-13 lead against the defending champion Sting and went to halftime with the scores locked at 28-28.
The Northerners were boosted by a storming performance from Silver Ferns' goal keep Linda Vagana, who was the major factor in Sting goal shoot Janine Topia succeeding with only 33 from 50 attempts, and for a pleasant change were well served around the shooting circle as well, where Teresa Tairi and Tania Nicholson combined to shoot 92 per cent accuracy.
Goal attack Nicholson ended the game nailing 21 from 21 while Tairi signalled something of a form reversal with 25 from 29.
The Sting, however, made the game safe in the second half after coach Robyn Broughton swapped the initial pairing of goal keep Jo Tapper and goal defence Bernice Mene, and brought Maria O'Neil into wing defence at the expense of Fijian Bulou Rabuka.
The new defensive screen gradually squeezed the life out of the Force, who struggled to retain possession let alone move the ball to their shooters, while being out-gunned 15-9 and 21-9 in the final two quarters.
Given that teams are guaranteed 50 per cent of possession in netball, a sobering statistic for the Force is that the Sting managed to unleash 35 more attempts on goal, with Silver Fern Donna Loffhagen battling injury and illness to finish with 31 from 35.
Netball: Force will be after holes in Sting defence
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