Variety spices up Steel’s attack
Anyone claiming the Southern Steel are a one trick pony should take note.
The southern franchise showed a varied attacking structure and player movement, especially in the third quarter, to cement their spot at the top of the New Zealand conference with a comfortable 67-54 win over the Central Pulse at Stadium Southland in Invercargill.
The hosts showed greater fluidity through the mid court and feeding into the attacking circle as both Jamaican international Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and Te Paea Selby-Rickit shared the shooting opportunities.
‘‘We can’t afford to be predictable because if we get used to relying on Jhaniele than there will come a time where we have a shooter who can’t actually shoot and I think that has happened in the past,’’ Steel coach Noeline Taurua said.
‘‘You’ve got to have two shooters, then the defence doesn’t know who they are going to set up on.’’
‘‘There were times their defence went straight for Jhaniele and Te Paea had a field day out there so that is what it is about to keep them ahead of the opposition.’’
Taurua is pleased to see her small team creating more opportunities in matches after practising it during the week.
‘‘We need to get it in our head to move because we are quite a small team. We have got to create things for ourselves to actually turn over the ball,’’ Taurua said.
A great start saw the Steel grab a crucial defensive turnover and race out to a 4-1 lead in the opening two minutes.
The scores returned to level 6-6 after six minutes before the Steel went on a blitz which saw them open up a 17-13 lead in the opening quarter.The visitors fought back in the second quarter.
Despite being down by six goals during the quarter, the excellent combination between wing attack Chelsea Locke and goal attack Ameliaranne Wells brought the Pulse back into the match.
They reduced the deficit to three goals by the end of the quarter thanks to some excellent shooting from Maia Wilson and Wells who only missed one shot each in the opening half.
The Steel were guilty of some 67 (Fowler-Reid 41/46, Te Paea Selby-Rickit 25/28, Leaver 1/3) bt 54 (Wilson 33/35, Wells 21/25) 17-13 30-27 48-39. inaccurate feeding to Fowler-Reid in the circle in the second quarter as the visitors outscored them 14-13, although goal attack SelbyRickit got more heavily involved taking on increased shooting responsibilities to keep the Pulse defenders guessing as the match progressed.
The home side’s reputation for strong third period performances continued as they restarted with renewed vigor and player movement extending their lead to 48-39 heading into the final quarter.
They built on their lead in the final quarter despite both teams making changes, taking it 19-15, although the Pulse did battle to the end to their credit.
The southern franchise’s coach Noeline Taurua was pleased with the improvement from last week’s win against the Magic.
‘‘We got more ball from gains so I think we went from 25 to 31,’’ Taurua said.
‘‘Unfortunately in the first half we weren’t able to turn those gains into scores, but I do feel that it was our own undoing in some respects too,’’
‘‘I think we settled better after halftime which made it easier to score, we just tried to keep it tidy, once again when we did get ball we were able to take it through to score.’’
Selby-Rickit was busy with 25 goals from 28 attempts, 12 assists and 16 feeds into the circle before being subbed late in the game, while wing attack Gina Crampton made 38 feeds into the circle.
The game was probably the southern franchise’s best defensive match of the season with goal keeper Jane Watson having a particularly strong game with seven intercepts and deflections.
The Locke and Wells combination worked well for the Pulse, while Wilson only missed two shots.
Pulse and Silver Ferns defender Katrina Grant was subbed in the second half after landing awkwardly.