Triple treat – Mystics end Pulse’s unbeaten run

The Northern Mystics have breathed life into the national netball premiership. They toppled the previously undefeated Central Pulse in round six yesterday, thanks to a clutch goal by Bailey Mes in the final seconds, made as she tumbled out of bounds after grabbing the rebound when Maria Folau’s attempted winner was off.

As a result, they won by one,

52-51, 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 host the Steel tonight, so will have a chance to close the gap. If they lose at home for the fourth straight game, they will find themselves five points back.

A loss would also allow the Magic, who host the winless Stars on Wednesday in Tauranga, to pass them – and the Mystics – with a win.

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 back in their ranks and 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. The Pulse rallied to bring the scores level late and were seconds away from forcing extra time when Mes came up trumps.