Vixens 41
The Magic last night firmly stamped out the nagging doubts that had emerged in recent weeks about their title credentials with a 12-goal demolition of transtasman league heavyweights, the Melbourne Vixens.
After a couple of unconvincing wins and last week's loss to the Northern Mystics, the Waikato/Bay of Plenty side were starting to look in danger of taking a slide down the standings.
But knowing they needed to produce their best against a classy Vixens line-up stacked full of internationals, a fired-up Magic side produced their most consistent performance of the season.
With traditional big-game performers for the Magic such as Irene van Dyk, Laura Langman and Casey Williams, there were several other standouts for the home side, with Jess Tuki and Julianna Naoupu producing assured performances on attack.
But young defender Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick, who transferred from the Mystics in the off-season, was the star of the show, impressing in just her second ANZ Championship start.
Tone-Fitzpatrick, who finished high school only last year, appeared unfazed by the prospect of taking on Australian international shooters Sharelle McMahon and Kate Beveridge, oozing confidence from the outset of the match.
The 18-year-old collected four intercepts and three deflections, and made a general menace of herself in the Vixens' attack end.
Van Dyk was full of praise for her young teammate.
"Sulu had an outstanding game," she said. "Before the match we were on the bench and I asked if she had ever played Sharelle before and she was like, 'No'. And I just told her to do what she does, because she is brilliant.
"And I think in a way that innocence helped, she just played her own game and didn't over-analyse things."
The Magic looked fired up from the outset, forcing their experienced opposition into a slew of errors to jump out to a handy 16-11 lead at the first break.
After a couple of changes to both ends of the court, the Vixens had made slight in-roads into the Magic's lead by halftime, reducing the deficit to four, but the visitors still did not look comfortable.
More changes followed after halftime, including the shock move to bench star import Geva Mentor, who struggled to contain van Dyk during her time on the court.
But still the Vixens could not halt the Magic juggernaut, as the home side extended their lead out to 39-32 heading into the final spell.
There were times when the Vixens threatened, coming within three goals of the Magic in both the second and third quarters. But unlike the past few rounds when they displayed a worrying inability to put teams away while in a commanding position, the Magic last night only got stronger as the match wore on.
Van Dyk said this was the most satisfying part of their performance.
"[Consistency] was the biggest thing we had to focus on, last week against the Mystics we got surges, but we never finished it off. And I think tonight we had those surges and we were able to keep building on our lead."
The Magic's dominance forced opposition coach Julie Hoornweg to make a raft of desperate changes as the match wore on.
Van Dyk said it was especially satisfying that the Vixens were forced to make changes to their defensive line for every quarter - a clear sign the Magic forward line were doing their job.
"It is nice because as soon as they start to make that amount of changes you know it's not tactical any more, they're starting to look for answers. And it is nice to know we forced a talented team like that in to making those changes."
The star shooter said last night's victory gives her side a strong boost in confidence heading into a difficult road trip next week, when they take on the West Coast Fever in Perth.
* Meanwhile, the Adelaide Thunderbirds beat the Northern Mystics 57-55 in their match at ETSA Park in Adelaide last night.
