Stars fight to end to stun Steel

andrew.voerman@stuff.co.nz

Last year, Temepara Bailey was an assistant coach, watching from the sideline as the Northern Stars lost seven straight to start the ANZ Premiership season.

This year, the 43-year-old midcourter was in the thick of the action as they opened their 2019 campaign with a stunning upset win over defending champions Southern Steel.

The Stars held their nerve at the death to win 66-64 at Claudelands Arena in Hamilton yesterday, with another returning midcourter, Kayla Cullen, grabbing a crucial late turnover and shooter Maia Wilson nailing two big shots in the final minutes.

Bailey played all but three minutes of the game at centre and didn’t look out of place. Afterwards, she was especially satisfied with the way her team dug in after surrendering a nine-goal lead in the final quarter.

‘‘The Steel know how to win – they’ve been champions for two years in a row,’’ she said. ‘‘So we knew that they would come back fighting, and what I’m really pleased about, is I think the Stars of old might have crumbled in that position, but everyone out there on court fought right to the very end.’’

Trailing by nine goals three minutes into the final quarter, the Steel went on a 13-4 run to level the scores at 62-62 with just over three minutes remaining.

The Stars won a key turnover when Te Paea Selby-Rickit missed a shot that would have made it 64-64 with 90 seconds remaining and defenders Leana de Bruin and Storm Purvis combined to bat the ball away from danger. Making her first ANZ Premiership appearance since 2017, it was Cullen who secured the loose ball, which allowed Wilson to sink back-to-back goals – her 50th and 51st of the match – and give the Stars an insurmountable lead.

Bailey said getting a win at the first time of asking would be a massive confidence boost for the Stars, who have finished fifth and sixth in their two seasons in New Zealand’s top domestic league.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of new players coming into this group. We’ve trained hard and I think that’s what we grasped when we went into this game – we’ve done all the hard work, it’s just about believing that we can do it.’’

The second game yesterday was more of a grind, with the Mainland Tactix edging their hosts, the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, 48-42.

Tactix wing attack Erikana Pedersen had to be helped from the court after suffering a leg injury early in the first quarter, but her team-mates were able to overcome her absence and start the season on a winning note.

The two teams could barely be separated in the first three quarters, but the Tactix were able to pull away in the final spell, with shooter Ellie Bird nailing 40 of her 41 attempts.

The Central Pulse were set to face the Northern Mystics in the final game of the triple-header.