National netballer, Kalifa Mc Collin played a key role in leading the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel to a 47-41 upset win over the Northern Mystics in the Netball New Zealand ANZ Premiership at the Auckland Netball Centre on Sunday.
Injury-ravaged after losing two of their three main shooters to major injuries, in Georgina Heffernan and then starter Jennifer O’Connell, the Steel suffered another blow when playmaking T&T shooting import Mc Collin was forced from the court with an injury early in the final quarter, further showcasing the southerners’ tenacious qualities.
However, the adversity highlighted the value of the experienced heads of Shannon Saunders, Gina Crampton, Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit and recent ring-in Ellen Halpenny who all helped in coaxing their team over the line with more consistent play than their opposites.
Stoic until the end in notching their third win from the bottom of the table, the Steel also held strong to deny the third-placed Mystics, who suffered their second straight loss, while putting a dent in their top-two hopes.
Still establishing their new shooting end, the Steel started with Mc Collin at the back and youngster Kiana Pelasio at goal attack while Saviour Tui got the start at goal attack in a familiar Mystics line-up.
From the get-go, nothing much went right for the Mystics, the Steel showing all their resolve and trademark pride with a rock-solid outing.
The Steel were handy on the attack and defensively slowed the Mystics forward momentum, and while not always spot-on with their shooting, Mc Collin(8/13) and Pelasio (5/6), nonetheless, had nearly double the opportunities of their Mystics counterparts to give the Steel a 13-11 lead at the first break.
It was much the same on the resumption with Saunders, Kate Heffernan and Selby-Rickit providing a staunch Steel defensive wall to limit the Mystics options while at the opposite end, Steel got eight goals from nine attempts from Mc Collin and Pelasio (1/2) and Halpenny (1/3) to win the quarter 10-8 for a 23-19 half-time advantage.
With their confidence growing, the Steel continued to keep the Mystics at arms-length during the third stanza and opened their lead by as much as seven, before being pegged back as both teams ended the quarter 13-all behind Halpenny's seven goals from nine attempts, and Mc Collin missing only one of seven attempts for their team to stay four ahead 36-32 going into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter started on a sour note for the Steel, with Mc Collin after scoring her lone attempt being forced off due to injury, however her replacement, Pelasio held her own with three goals from five attempts while Halpenny led the way with seven goals from eight attempts as they edged the period 11-9 to hang on for the win, their third in ten matches.
Mc Collin, who was a member of T&T’s 2019 Netball World Cup squad, ended with 23 goals from 30 attempts to carry her season tally to 174 goals from 215 attempts at 82 per cent to sit seventh on the scorers’ leader board.
Halpenny added 15 from 20 attempts for the winners, and Pelasio chipped in with nine goals from 13 attempts while for the Mystics Grace Nweke led all scorers with 32 goals from 33 attempts, Saviour Tui added five from six attempts, and Filda Vui, four from six.
With the win, Southern Steel now has 14 points from ten matches, four more than cellar placed Splice Construction Magic while at the top of the table Central Pulse with a perfect 10-0 record has 44 points, 15 more than Northern Mystics, winners of six from ten followed by The Good Oil Tactix with 24 points, while Robinhood Northern Stars, the club of T&T goal defence, Daystar Swift is fourth with 17 points.
On Saturday last, Swift was an unused substitute as table leaders Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse executed a storming come-from-behind 46-36 win over her Robinhood Northern Stars.
The Stars added plenty of value to the match but were unable to stay with their opposites for the duration after making an impressive fist of it for three-quarters, but managed to pick up two bonus points for winning the first and third quarters, 11-8 and 13-9 respectively.
The 28-year-old Swift will be hoping to return to action after only playing in the opening match of the season before her surgery when the Stars face Good Oil Tactix on Thursday, July 30 from 3.05 am (TT time) at Horncastle Arena, Christchurch ahead of their shown-down with Mc Collin's Steel on Saturday, August 1 at Auckland Netball Centre from 1 am (TT).
The Steel will then close out the round against Magic on August 3 at Claudelands Arena, Hamilton from 3 am (TT time).