Waikato are on track for a semifinals spot after convincingly beating Southland 67-50 at the national provincial championships in Palmerston North last night.
Waikato, who were beaten in last year's final by Canterbury, are the only division-one top-six team to record two wins from two games.
In other top-six games yesterday, Otago beat Counties-Manukau 56-43 and Canterbury and Wellington drew a thrilling game 47-47.
A fired-up Waikato savaged Southland, jumping out to a 23-14 lead after the first quarter, ahead 39-22 at halftime and 51-36 after three quarters.
After Monday's sluggish win over Counties-Manukau, Waikato played at pace, firing off snappy passes into the circle.
Southland became flustered and weren't helped by goalshoot Tania Dalton's having trouble finding the hoop, even from close range.
Otago bounced back from Monday's loss to Canterbury with their win over Counties-Manukau.
Otago led 17-11 after the opening quarter, 28-23 at halftime and 42-36 at three-quarter time.
Counties-Manukau goalkeep Lorna Suafoa was outstanding, repeatedly plucking off rebounds and snaring intercepts, but her side were punished for not winning pass-offs, throwing wayward passes and stepping infringements.
The Otago shooters revelled in their superior possession, with goalshoot Katie Ritchie nailing 37 of her 45 attempts.
For Counties-Manukau, goalshoot Monica Gabriel potted 28 of 33 attempts. Between them, goal attacks Philippa Te Hira and Jodi Whitmore sank 15 of 27 attempts in their one half apiece.
Auckland-Waitakere are threatening to be the giant killers in the division-one bottom-six tournament, recording a 64-39 win over Bay of Plenty yesterday. That comes a day after they thrashed Eastern 51-28.
Netball North are also unbeaten after caning the hapless Eastern 65-39. Western thumped Tasman 64-33 yesterday after losing to Netball North 51-41 on Monday.
- NZPA
Netball: Waikato in good shape for semis
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