Netball: Magic battle to beat Diamonds

9:45 pm

Magic have emerged the winners after an often scrappy but hard-fought netball encounter with the Diamonds in the Coca Cola Cup competition in Rotorua tonight.

Magic, 56-51 winners, held the lead at the end of each quarter but it was tenuous for much of the time. The home side were up 14-13 after the first spell, 28-25 at halftime and 41-40 going into the final quarter.

At centre for Magic, Silver Fern Jenny-May Coffin showed no signs of the back injury that kept her off the court for the competition's first three rounds.

She and wing defence Vic Edward, who had an outstanding game, made some good gains through the midcourt but Magic struggled on attack at times when they allowed themselves to become pressured by Diamonds' tight defence.

Magic shooters Julie Kelman-Poto and Renee Jacobsen combined well with Jacobsen taking on a heavy load to work the ball into the circle.

For Diamonds young defender Rachel Rasmussen got some great turnover and did a lot of work through the court but centre and captain Anna Rowberry didn't really come to the fore until the second half.

She added plenty of speed and force to her team's game during that half but it was something they could have done with earlier on.

While Magic took the win and plenty of positives from tonight's match, they still have some work to do with tougher matches still to come in the competition.

They enjoyed a lot of possession but often failed to capitalise and that's something coach Ruth Aitken will be working on with her team.

"It was good getting lots of ball but they needed to get a flow going on attack and it was only really in the last quarter that they started to get that," Aitken said.

"In saying that, it's great to get the win. We knew it would be tough."

In other Coca Cola Cup matches played yesterday, the Flames beat the Rebels 54-44 in Christchurch while Force outpaced the Cometz 59-33 in South Auckland.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)