Magic over Pulse for second win of Premiership
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Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic celebrated a special milestone for co-captain Erena Mikaere with a second half scoring spree to beat the Pulse 50-39 in Hamilton.
In a front of a large, supportive home crowd, Mikaere couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate her 150th national league match. The veteran was well backed up by the rest of her Magic side, none more so than the shooting anchor at the other end of the court.
The athletic, aerial and accurate Saviour Tui delivered a masterclass under the hoop with an imperious outing, opening up the circle with her exhilarating movement while nailing 34 from 36 shots, icing the cake with the only two-pointer of the match on the stroke of fulltime.
With both backing up their season-best performances last week, but out of contention for the Finals Series, there was no lessening of intent, each being desperate to continue their winning ways.
With all the statistics favouring the Pulse after the first half, it was all the Magic in the second. Growing in confidence and riding the momentum wave, it took the home side until the last quarter to hit the lead for the first time and from there, they choked all the resistance out of their opponents who were left disconnected and error-ridden.
In a huge turnaround, the Magic delivered a comprehensive a 30-13 second half onslaught after the Pulse had won the first 26-20.
The Pulse got away to the best of starts when scoring the first three goals before both teams engaged in sequences of scrappy play. The Magic recovered from their early disconnection on attack to string together a competitive response.
With the height of Mikaere and Oceane Maihi causing some disruption for the Pulse shooters, Ameliaranne Ekenasio showed her class to keep the goals ticking over. Too many errors on attack for the Magic proved costly, the Pulse with more ball in hand heading to the first break with a 14-9 lead.
Looking to wrestle control with an influential start on the resumption, the Pulse stretched out to an eight-goal buffer through pick-ups on defence, the ability of centre Emma Thompson to find perfect positioning at the top of the circle and the injection of shooter Ine-Mari Venter.
That prompted a tactical timeout from Magic, introducing shooter Kate Taylor and with it more height. The break energised the home side, strong defensive hustle from Georgie Edgecombe and Mikaere, combined with the aerial and athletic skills of Tui helping repair some of the damage.
More accurate and with better flow on attack helped the Pulse maintain their edge when leading 26-20 at the main break.
Both sides started the third term in scrappy fashion but it was the Magic’s long arm spans and hustle on defence that forced the Pulse shooters to go off the boil. With their defence end picking up plenty of turnover opportunities, the attack line sprung into life.
Good ball movement on attack where Ariana Cable-Dixon delivered good service to the dynamic Tui and Taylor producing strong shot-making opportunities, the home side raised their accuracy levels. With both searching for the much-desired win, there was plenty of physicality with bodies hitting the deck regularly.
As the disconnect continued at the Pulse attack end, the Magic continued to gather momentum, eating into the deficit to narrow the gap to 35-32 in the Pulse’s favour at the last break while restricting the visitors to just nine goals.