Stars deny Magic spot in playoffs

‘‘Could they hold their nerve? The answer, as it turned out, was no.’’

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic have been left to wonder what could have been.

To make the playoffs, they needed to beat the Northern Stars by 16, or by 15 while conceding less than 48, on Wednesday night, but they could only get it done by 13, 58-45.

They had enough opportunities to get there at ASB Baypark Arena in Tauranga, but couldn’t take them. Midway through the second quarter, the Magic went up by 10, and it looked like they might coast to their target from there. But the Stars had other ideas, and after a flurry of goals in the dying seconds of that spell, they had reduced the margin to seven. The Magic got their lead back out to 10, midway through the third, at which point Grace Kukutai was introduced, replacing Ariana CableDixon. Kukutai went to wing defence, and Sam Sinclair moved forward to centre.

Ten goals seemed to be the ceiling for the Magic for a while. They broke past it, then were hauled back in, but they broke past it again, and their lead sat at 12 as the final quarter began. From there it was going to be touch and go as to whether they would make it. Cable-Dixon returned, and slowly, but surely, they got there. They were up by 13, with 12 minutes to play, then by 14, with 11 to go, and 15 shortly after that - enough to see them advance at that stage.

But could they hold their nerve? The answer, as it turned out, was no. The margin shrank immediately, and while it never went below 12 again, it never got back to 15 either, so the Mystics, wherever they were watching, were able to breathe a sigh of relief. The Aucklanders had got themselves into this position by losing to the Mainland Tactix on Sunday, and they now owe the Stars, their crosstown rivals, a big thank you. Stars defender Sulu Fitzpatrick suffered an injury in the warmups, and after starting, she was replaced by Leana de Bruin following the first goal. De Bruin has played sparingly in recent weeks, but she did well in this one, making a crucial intercept down the stretch to crush her former team’s hopes. The Magic looked extremely cautious in their attacking phase, almost afraid to let any possession go to waste, and their hesitancy led to them missing a few early opportunities to open up a lead. Things got harder as the game went on, and in the end, the task at hand proved to be too much.

Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 58 Northern Stars 45

(Potgieter 37/38, Falkner 21/23) (Wilson 21/27, Vaka 16/19, Rusivakula 8/11) 16-11; 31-24 45-33

Q2: Q3: Q1: