Pulse lose as Mystics strike late
The Northern Mystics have breathed life into the national netball premiership, toppling the previously undefeated Central Pulse in round six, thanks to a clutch goal by Bailey Mes in the final seconds, made as she tumbled out of bounds after grabbing the rebound from Maria Folau’s attempted winner.
As a result, they won 52-51 yesterday, a week after going down by 22, 60-38, in round five.
In the day’s other two matches, the Southern Steel beat the Northern Stars by three, 63-60, a week after beating them by two, and the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic beat the Tactix by one, 48-47, four days after beating them by seven, 55-48.
Those results meant nothing changed on the ladder, where the Pulse remain out in front, with the Steel and the Tactix the others in the top three, though the Mystics are in fourth only on goal percentage.
The Tactix tonight.
It was the final offering between the Mystics and the Pulse that was the most exciting of the day at Horncastle Arena in Christchurch, the venue for the second Super Sunday tripleheader of the season.
The Mystics had Silver Ferns shooter Folau in their ranks, which they didn’t last week, and they gave the Pulse a contest like no-one else has so far this season, forcing rare mistakes from them in the shooting circle, and capitalising to turn a three-goal deficit at halftime into a four-goal lead by the end of the third quarter.
Mystics captain Anna Harrison was a menace defensively, but the Pulse hung in there, and rallied to bring the scores level host the Steel