Magic net home advantage

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic claimed home advantage for their trans-Tasman league semifinal after beating the Northern Mystics in the New Zealand Conference final in Auckland last night.

Their 57-54 victory means they will host the second-placed Australian side – the NSW Swifts – in Hamilton on Sunday with the Mystics travelling to Brisbane to face top Aussie team the Queensland Firebirds on Sunday.

Despite the quick turnaround from Saturday’s Kiwi Conference Elimination Final, the Magic made a slick start and did well to keep their intensity up throughout the contest, with Casey Kopua playing her first full game back since injury at goal defence.

It was an intense contest, with plenty going on off the ball with both teams knowing how important that home semifinal would be. The umpires also took their chance to stamp authority on the game more than usual. The Mystics were undone by a couple of calls from Jono Bredin going against a physical Cathrine Latu, while the Magic’s Sam Sinclair got a real telling off for too many contact penalties.

The other umpire, Liz Boon, also warned Magic midcourter Grace Rasmussen for breaking too often at the centre pass.

All four shooters were on target early on with the Mystics’ sole miss of the first quarter a long one from Maria Tutaia on the whistle as the hosts went to quarter-time 16-15 down with the Magic nailing all but two of their attempts.

The Magic started the second quarter well with a Jamie-Lee Price intercept and a wayward Tutaia pass allowed them to get out to a handy 21-15 advantage.

Sinclair kept herself in the umpires’ bad books when Boon dressed her down for a cynical slap of the ball out of Laura Langman’s hands before Price did the same on on Camilla Lees.

The game was halted on several occasions, firstly for Kopua to get her breath back and a couple of times to wipe the floor after Latu and Kopua both spent time on their backsides.

At the other end of the court Temalisi Fakahokotau was proving an inspiration for the home side as the exciting 20-yearold went for ball after ball and came up trumps. The Magic were also guilty of some average passing and let the Mystics claw their way back to 28-28 at halftime.

After the break both teams threw the ball away but it was the Mystics who were able to get their noses in front by three.

All took a gasp when Kopua was knocked to the floor by Tutaia. After everything she has been through recently it looked another sorry sight as Kopua clasped her head, however, it was just a knock to the noggin and the Silver Ferns skipper kept going.

Mystics coach Debbie Fuller surprisingly opted to bench Fakahokotau, with Sulu ToneFitzpatrick taking her place at goal keep.

Despite the Magic levelling the scores in the third period, they went to three-quarter-time behind 43-41, but they quickly tied the game up again, with Malia Paseka (22/26) playing a far bigger supporting act alongside Jo Harten (35/38).

At 51-51 Kopua pulled in a rebound from a Tutaia (28/32) miss, Lees was warned by Bredin and the Magic got themselves a two-goal lead. With three and a half minutes to go Kopua then called time for treatment to her right knee.

From the restart the Mystics were harshly pulled for a break when Kopua had apologised to Tutaia for knocking her out of position, and the Magic were able to go ahead 55-51.

Fuller then brought Fakahokotau back for ToneFitzpatrick, but it was too late, as the Magic closed out a second tense win in the space of three days.