KEY POINTS:
Centre Julie Seymour produced another sparkling performance to power Canterbury Tactix to a stunning 50-44 win over New South Wales Swifts in a transtasman netball league match in Christchurch today.
It was the Tactix' second successive win following their 48-44 upset over Northern Mystics in last week's opening round.
The Tactix played as a complete unit to upset the Swifts, who beat the Southern Steel 53-42 in the first round of the ANZ Championship.
Seymour and wing attack Maree Bowden were the backbone of the Tactix, providing a link between defence and attack that the Swifts, considered one of the title favourites, could not match.
Goal shoot Jodi Brown and goal attack Anna Thompson also combined intelligently to create numerous openings.
At the other end, the danger posed by Australian international shooter Catherine Cox was snuffed out by the hardworking Demelza Fellowes and Victoria Smith.
There was no hint of an upset as the teams exchanged goals in the first 10 minutes of the game.
But with the scores at 9-9, goal defender Fellowes provided the key moment as she forced Cox to muff two easy shots in succession and from the turnover the Tactix jumped out to a lead they never surrendered.
With Brown shooting at 100 per cent in the first quarter to Cox's 65 per cent, the Tactix led 16-11 as the second quarter got underway.
The Swifts came back to within three on a number of occasions but they were never able to capitalise on the few turnovers the Tactix offered.
The game ended fittingly with Seymour creating another turnover.
Cox, whose side next play the Bay of Plenty Magic, said the Swifts were probably unprepared for the level of physicality the Tactix brought to the game.
"We knew it was going to be a challenge but we weren't ready for the physicality of the game," she said.
"We'll have to have think about it but I think we were outfought for the ball."
Seymour said the Tactix had wanted to build on last week's performance.
"We knew we had to start confidently in the second week."
- NZPA
