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SYDNEY - Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic players say they got what they deserved last night after freezing on provincial netball's biggest stage.
Just a few hundred metres from the All Blacks' demise two nights earlier, the Magic conceded transtasman netball superiority to the New South Wales Swifts who won the final 65-56 before a crowd of 12,099 at Sydney's Acer Arena.
Inspired by shooter Catherine Cox, the Swifts led throughout for their ninth consecutive victory to farewell their retiring international midcourter Selina Gilsenan in style.
The Magic made too many errors in playing catch-up, despite a slick shooting effort from Irene van Dyk who nailed 45 from 46. Her only miss happened in the final quarter when she looked destined for her fourth perfect game of the season.
Magic captain Amigene Metcalfe, leading a team with six internationals to their opponents' three, said second place in the inaugural transtasman competition was a fair result.
"I don't think we were the best team out there tonight and we haven't played to our potential consistently throughout the season and the Swifts have," she said.
"As individuals we weren't on top of our game, we didn't do our own jobs properly which in finals you can't do."
A sluggish start and some uncharacteristic stray passes from the Magic saw the Swifts shoot out to a 7-2 lead and they kept a handy buffer at the quarter breaks: 19-14, 34-28 and 50-45.
There was a glimmer of hope when some big plays from defender Casey Williams and van Dyk's radar narrowed the gap to 49-51 early in the final quarter. But the Swifts' superior composure told as the score blew out in the final 10 minutes.
"It seemed like we were always chasing our tails, but when we got within two it did feel like we could push on. Little things let us down, as they have throughout the season," Metcalfe said.
Williams, one of five Magic players from the Silver Ferns' four-goal loss to Australia in last year's world championship final, said the pain was familiar.
"It doesn't feel like you've let the whole country down, but we let ourselves down more than anything.
"They deserved to win, they played the better game. We were quite tense, a bit scared to let the ball go and on defence we weren't attacking the ball."
Coach Noeline Taurua made changes to try and spark a revival, switching centre Metcalfe and wing attack Laura Langman at quarter time, then goal attack van Dyk and goal shoot Maria Tutaia at halftime.
The coach was still happy with the side's preparation, and said the Swifts' 76 shots to the Magic's 61 told the story of the battle for possession. The Magic had a better shooting percentage, 92 to the Swifts' 86.
Taurua said the long season took some adjusting to, coming off a quickfire domestic programme.
"It's a learning curve for us, four months is a long time that we haven't had the experience in, compared with the Aussies."
Australian shooter Cox, who made 41 of her 46 attempts and was named player of the match, cast an eager eye towards the October test series against the Silver Ferns.
"There's a little bit of confidence there, definitely. If you look at a game like tonight, there's only three players in the Australian team and we've managed to topple a pretty much Silver Ferns team, that's encouraging."
- NZPA
