Thirteen point victory simply not large enough for Magic

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic played 900 minutes of netball this year. They scored 873 goals and conceded 848.

But in the end, they needed to score two more or concede two fewer.

And if they go looking for where they might have done that, they will find plenty of potential answers. Might they have racked up a few more goals in their big wins over the Mainland Tactix and the Northern Stars, one of which was on Wednesday night in Tauranga but by 13, two shy of the 15 they needed?

Or might they have kept things a little bit tighter in their heavy losses, such as the one by 17 goals to the Central Pulse on June 5, or the one by 19 goals to the Southern Steel six days later?

They might have won one more game too, or lost one by less than five and got another bonus point. There are many ways for them to join the dots but the fact is, they didn’t.

They were ahead by 15, and in the playoffs, with just under 11 minutes to play on Wednesday night, but as the clock ticked down past 10, the Stars reduced their lead to 14, and they never got back there. They had a chance to, in the final minute, but a Leana de Bruin interception dashed their dreams, and Malia Vaka then knocked it back to 13 with just seconds remaining.

In the end, the Magic’s goal percentage was 102.95 per cent and the Northern Mystics’ was 103.17 per cent, so even though they both earned 19 points, it’s the Mystics playing the Pulse on Sunday in the elimination final in Wellington.

Magic coach Margaret Forsyth said yesterday had their chances to write a different story.

"We should have beaten the Stars the second time we played them, instead of going down by five. That was a tough match for us so that was an opportunity missed.’’