The lack of converting turnover ball into points let the Northern Stars down in Super Sunday ANZ Premiership action this afternoon in Christchurch, going down 60-63 against the Southern Steel.
After losing by two goals to the Steel a week ago in Invercargill, the Stars were hungry to pick up their first win of the season.
The Stars failed to capitalise on turnover ball, only converting eight of their eighteen turnover scoring opportunities throughout the match.
Assistant coach Temepara Bailey putting another loss down to individual ownership.
“When things are working, for some reason we go away and have individual lapses, we’ve got to take a good hard look at ourselves and take ownership.”
Looking at a seven-goal deficit with five minutes to go, Kate Burley snatched an intercept and ignited the Stars to draw within one point in the games dying moments.
Bailey added, “Kate brings some great energy into that defensive end and I thought Grace (Kara) did another awesome job leading the attacking end, but we need everyone to get onboard.”
Captain Grace Kara who had a dogged match up against Steel captain Wendy Frew put the loss down to not doing the basics.
“I feel like I’m singing the same tune every week, but we need to do the basics right, do the work and commit to what we say we’re going to do out there.”
Kara added, “mentally our team know that we’ve got the potential to win.”
It was a goal for goal start to the match with midcourters from both teams finding their shooters easily under the hoop.
The Steel established a four-goal lead but the Stars fought back to draw level at 18-all at the first break helped by a combined ninety percent shooting accuracy by Maia Wilson and Paula Griffin who was playing her 100th national league game across the ANZ Premiership, ANZ Championship and National Bank Cup.
Burley came on at goal defence for Ama Agbeze in the second quarter, a move that paid dividends in last week’s match.
The pair had turns at goal defence a number of times throughout the match, combining well with Olivia Coughlan and midcourters Holly Fowler and Fa’amu Ioane to force turn over ball in the Steel shooting circle.
Interim replacement player and former Tactix captain Anna Thompson was brought on at center for her first appearance in the 2018 ANZ Premiership.
“Anna just has so much experience and we wanted to bring Holly off for a bit to look at the game differently,” said Bailey.
An injury to Steel’s Courtney Elliot half way through the quarter didn’t stop the southerners flow, taking a 33-30 lead into half time.
The Southerners put their foot down in the third quarter, handling errors from the Stars helped the Steel establish a 50-45 buffer going into the final quarter.
Ellen Halpenny replaced Griffin at goal attack and her combination with Wilson started to find their grove again in the final quarter, but the deficit was too tough to overcome in the end.
At the end of the match, the team presented Griffin with flowers to celebrate her century at national league level, Griffin vividly remembers her first National Bank Cup match as a 17-year old.
“I was playing for the Auckland Diamonds in 2006 and came on at goal attack in last quarter. We were playing against the Magic who had my idol Irene Van Dyk in their team.”
Griffin added, “I’ve played for a lot of teams over the years and it takes a longtime to grow a team and combinations. Our Stars team haven’t played much together before this season, but we’re halfway through the draw now and we’ve got to start nailing it.
The Northern Stars will again take on the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in Mount Maunganui, Wednesday 13th June 7.40pm.
Next home Match:
Monday 18th June – Northern Stars v Mainland Tactix
Time: 7:40pm
Venue: Pulman Arena, Auckland
Purchase Tickets Here - http://premier.ticketek.co.nz/events/NORTHERN18/venues/PULMAN/performances/EAKL2018778/tickets
