Magic now in fifth

After round five of ANZ Premiership netball, pickster Murray Green of Paper Plus still tops the standings.

Stewart & Cavalier’s Debbie Pitcon played her single use joker which elevated her into second on the standings.

McDonald’s Bernie Marshall and NZME’s Tania King sit in third and fourth while LJ Hooker’s Rhonda McGuire and Harcourts’ Melanie Barker are fifth equal.

The Robinhood Northern Stars clinched 45-43 win over Splice Construction Magic at the Auckland Netball Centre on Sunday.

It sealed a perfect two from two for the doubleheader weekend for the Stars as they turned the tables six days after the Magic chased them down in the last quarter to earn a draw.

Stars goalkeeper Oceane Maihi had a terrific impact from the bench when introduced late in the third quarter, the Magic not able to go on with the job in an increasingly tense and nerve-wracking run to the line.

Goal attack Jamie Hume had a promising start, opening up the Stars circle while at the other end, fleetfooted wing attack Whitney Souness delivered a number of quality feeds to shooter Kelsey McPhee.

Racing out to a five-goal advantage, the Stars could not retain their ascendancy with a Magic comeback leaving them with a narrow 13-10 lead at the first break.

Magic piled on the pressure on the resumption, an abrasive second 12-minute quarter becoming the order of the day. Sam Winders moved to centre with Jenna O’Sullivan coming from the bench to wing defence as Magic’s resolute defence stalled the Stars throughcourt flow.

Drawing within two goals, a lack of consistency remained for the Magic as the Stars increased their margin to five when leading 23-28 at the main break.

In her 50th ANZ Premiership match, the return of

Ariana Cable-Dixon coincided with a sizzling third stanza from the Magic. It couldn’t have started better, the Magic scoring the first three goals on the restart to gain the momentum and drive home their growing confidence.

Maihi was introduced at goalkeeper for the Stars but the Magic retained the impetus, out-scoring the Stars 18-10 to take a 36-33 lead into the last break.

In the Splice Construction Magic’s second game of the week it was a frustrating battle where neither side gave a centimetre, the Magic drew 46-46 with the Tactix at the Auckland Netball Centre.

In the space of a week, fans witnessed only the second draw in ANZ Premiership history and it was a fitting result where there was very little between the two sides in both statistics and in strength of wills.

On Sunday the Splice Construction Magic will face the Southern Steel. Game starts at 7pm.