The Magic have survived another tense battle as they continue to walk the tight-rope towards the transtasman league finals.
Trailing by six late in the first half, a strong second half performance from the Waikato-Bay of Plenty side ensured the overcame their closest local competition, the Southern Steel, to claimfourth position outright in the standings. Their six-goal win in Rotorua reversed the result from two weeks ago, when the Steel upstaged the Magic in Invercargill.
With Australian sides holding down the top three spots on the ladder and showing no sign of surrendering them, it is looking increasingly likely the final spot in the play-offs will go to either the Magic or Steel.
The defending champions therefore moved into the box seat to claim that spot with their hard-fought win over the southerners.
Needing a committed full-court defensive effort for 60 minutes to wear down the Steel, who have the ability to score quickly through their 1.98m shooting weapon Jhaniele Fowler, the Magic looked wobbly in the early stages of the game as the visitors opened up a 28-22 lead with five minutes remaining before halftime.
A late rally saw the Magic peg the deficit back to 30-28 heading into the long break, and make their task of overcoming the clinical Steel outfit, who have proved themselves one of the least wasteful teams in the competition, a little less daunting.
The Magic continued battling hard for any loose scraps in the second half, knowing that if they applied the pressure for long enough, the mistakes would come from the Steel. As the match wore on and tiredness set into the Steel attack line the Magic started to collect the rewards for their effort, outscoring the visitors 15-11 for the period to take a two-goal lead heading into the final turn. They maintained their momentum following the resumption, opening the final spell with a 6-1 run to effectively secure the match.
Given Fowler's dominance on the competition, any turnover ball that was won by Magic defenders Casey Kopua and Leana de Bruin was greeted with a minor celebration from the pair. While the Jamaican import finished with an impressive haul of 39/40, the Magic will be extremely satisfied to restrict Fowler to well below her season average of 50.
The Adelaide Thunderbirds maintained a four-point buffer at the top of the table heading into their bye round with a hard-fought 46-43 win over the NSW Swifts. The win guarantees the Thunderbirds a place in the finals with three rounds remaining.
The Melbourne Vixens are also looking secure in the top four after edging out fellow competition heavyweights the Queensland Firebirds 53-47 in Brisbane.
