Steel thwarted late in trophy game
It was a game that had everything — two-point shots, a late scratching, an assistant coach hitting the court, a suspension and a centurion.
The Southern Steel looked sharp but succumbed 57-50 against the Mainland Tactix in Christchurch on Sunday night.
It was the tightest game in the opening round of the ANZ Premiership and was a contest worthy of the inaugural Hutton Family Trophy.
Steel shooter Aliyah Dunn notched her 100th game back where it all began and assistant coach Liana Leota (40) returned to her roots when she was injected as a replacement in the third quarter.
She pulled on the dress after co-captain Kate Heffernan was ruled out with a knee injury.
Defender Carys Stythe was superb in her Steel debut with nine deflections and six gains.
But they let the little moments get the better of them.
"I think we let ourselves kind of crumble under pressure in that last second half," co-captain Kimora Poi told Sky Sport.
"We came at them in the first half but we just let little basics slip.
"We've got more to give."
Serina Daunakamakama got the nod at wing attack, with Poi moving in the middle.
Poi's connection with Dunn from their Tactix days benefited the Steel immediately.
Poi was the engine room of the midcourt and fed Dunn nicely over the tough Tactix defenders.
The home side looked sharp with their settled shooting line up in Te Paea Selby-Rickit feeding Ellie Bird and Erikana Pederson hardly missed a beat at wing attack.
The penalties started to mount against the Steel with Stythe and Abby Lawson caught on the body.
That allowed the Tactix to exploit and push ahead.
The Steel tried to attack the two-point shot early in the period — it is in action for the final five minutes of each quarter — but their accuracy was off.
The Tactix, however, kept the scoreboard ticking over with just the one-pointers and led 14-10 at the first break.
They continued with that roll to start the second quarter and jumped out to a seven-goal lead.
But Stythe started to win the battle over Bird, putting her off her shot and Georgia Heffernan levelled the score at the other end.
Heffernan sank the first two-pointer of the game to take the lead.
Just as the Tactix looked to pull ahead again, Heffernan drained another two, and then dished off to Dunn, to lead 27-26 at halftime.
Martina Salmon was injected at goal shoot, in a bid to combat Stythe's growing dominance in the circle.
The Steel started to get more depth on their second phase, allowing a more direct entry to the post.
Daunakamakama grew in confidence throughout the game, picking up a tip off the Tactix centre pass.
Jane Watson and Karin Burger continued to mix up their positioning in the circle for the Tactix, and Watson was rewarded when she snaffled a cross-court ball.
Nothing could separate the two, until the Tactix had a mini surge of four goals through the middle.
Enter Leota.
The assistant coach — playing her 211th domestic game — came on at wing attack to settle the attack end.
Down by three, the Steel took the risk with the two-pointers again and Watson boxed out strong to pick up the crumbs.
At the other end, Salmon slotted the Tactix first two-pointer to lead 42-37.
But Dunn replied with her own, closed the gap to two — and Stythe rejected Salmon's two-point attempt.
The Tactix held a 42-41 lead at the third quarter.
It was a game of runs and the Tactix came out of the break strong to lead 47-44.
Dunn was questionably suspended for clipping Karin Burger when trying to keep the ball in court.
That left the Steel without a shooter for two minutes and the Tactix showed their experience.
The Central Pulse thumped the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 57-44 and the Northern Mystics had a big 71-55 win against an injury-hampered Northern Stars.
kayla.hodge@alliedpress.co.nz
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