Southern Steel hand out lesson to struggling Stars

The Northern Stars were given a tough lesson by the Southern Steel on what it takes to be a contender in the ANZ Premiership on Wednesday night.

The Steel thrashed New Zealand’s newest professional sporting team 73-51 at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau to move to the top of the ladder.

In a competition with just six teams, the gulf between the sides is astonishingly big.

The Steel, Magic and Pulse already look like being the ones who’ll make it to the playoffs, the Mystics are the next best, while the Stars and Tactix will be fighting it out for the wooden spoon. This was the fifth straight win for the unbeaten Steel and they had too much class in every department for the Stars to cope with.

Not that anyone could be critical of the effort the Stars put in, but this was a mismatch.

By the end of the first quarter the Steel were up 22-12, game over as contest already.

At halftime it was 42-23 to the Steel, who showed no signs of let- ting up, or showing any mercy on their opposition, who were struggling to keep hold of possession.

The Stars actually won the third quarter 15-12, but with a 16-point lead the Steel knew they could see out the game in cruise mode.

The Steel were once again the dominant team in the last stanza, winning that final quarter 19-13.

The penalty for an infringement in the third round ultimately cost Thompson the title and generated criticism of the sport for a fan’s ability to intervene so late in the piece.

The new law enables officials to eliminate penalties if they feel players made a ‘‘reasonable judgment’’ in taking a drop or replacing their golf ball on the putting green.

‘‘We’re all responsible for applying rules and calling penalties on ourselves,’’ USGA senior director of rules Thomas Pagel said.

‘‘But we’ve seen situations where there is no way the player or anyone around the player could