The Northern Stars have kept the Barfoot and Thompson Northern Challenge alive with a 58-55 win over the Northern Mystics in round 10 ANZ Premiership action.

The Mystics were closing in on the lead with five minutes left in the match, but the Stars held their nerve to turn the tide on their Auckland neighbours who won an earlier encounter in round 2.

After the match captain Grace Kara said that the side are starting to put it all together after several losses to start the season.

“The consistency I spoke about at the start of the season is coming together and also those crucial moments… the pressure came on at times tonight and the girls did a great job to absorb it.”

There was a worry in the Stars camp as in-form wing defence Fa’amu Ioane went down with a knee injury midway through the second quarter.

Kara added, Mu (Fa’amu) is a key player in our starting seven and defensively as well, we rallied together tonight to fight for her.

Ioane will undergo a scan tomorrow to reveal the extent of the injury.

The Stars had the best start to a match this season, with connections across the court firing on all cylinders and ending the first quarter ahead 15-12.

Head coach Kiri Wills said they’d analysed what the Taxtic and Magic had done previously in their wins over the Mystics.

“I think last week we played a lot of good angles and ball speed and taking into account what the Tactix and Magic have done, we wanted to replicate that”.

The Stars coaching team made the bold decision to change up their winning starting line up from last week, bringing Holly Fowler into center and Ama Agbeze in at goal defence.

Kara was dominant in the wing attack role against the long limbs of Mystics captain Anna Harrison.

Following the injury to Ioane, Anna Thompson moved into the center position with Fowler going into wing defence.

The Mystics capitalised and closed out the half stronger, but a missed shot by Bailey Mes allowed the Stars to take a 28-26 lead into half time.

There were tense moments in the third quarter as the Mystics drew level to 33-33 before the Stars once again went on a run of goals to take a 45-39 lead into the final stanza.

Maia Wilson turned out a MVP performance, landing 48/54 attempts at goal for an 89% success rate.

Wilson’s connection with Paula Griffin continues to improve with Griffin playing a play maker role and contributing 10 goals for a 100% success rate.

“It’s really nice to get another win. I think we had an unfortunate start to the season, but we’re finally starting to get over the line and the bonus points have come in handy,” Wilson said.

After beating the Magic on Wednesday night, Wilson commented that there will be some tired bodies.

“Following the quick turned around, we had to come out and perform. with the double header coming up in Super Sunday we’re going to have to get up and do it again.”

Next up for the Stars is a rematch against the Central Pulse on Sunday 15th July at Pulman Arena, Takanini.

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