Two teams who know how to battle right to the final whistle go head-to-head in Dunedin as they both look to hold their places in the ANZ Premiership top three.

The Robinhood Stars came from behind for a 55-53 victory over The Te Wānanga o Raukawa Central Pulse to maintain the top ranking after nine rounds while the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel got a small jump on the chasing pack in holding down the third rung on the ladder.

Look at either end of the court for the firepower with the league’s most accurate shooter, the Steel’s George Fisher, coming up against Stars’ defender Elle Temu who has the most intercepts (19) in the Premiership.

At the other end of the court is Silver Ferns shooting rock and Stars captain Maia Wilson who takes on another promising youngster in Taneisha Fifita who sits in the top four for rebounds, deflections and intercepts.

Wilson said her side will have taken plenty of confidence from their come from behind win over the Pulse last week.

“I’m so proud of our team to stick together and really fight it out until the last second. But we still have a bit of a problem of getting a half and not consistently a full game.”

Wilson is averaging 37.1 goals per match in 2021, her second highest average of the five ANZ Premiership seasons - just short of 2018 when she averaged 37.8 goals

When the two teams last met in round 4 it was the Stars who came away comfortable 59-45 winners and the Stars have won four of the past five meetings between the teams.

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