REIGNING premiers Northern Mystics took down Southern Steel in a dominant 20-goal win in the 2022 ANZ Premiership last night. The historic win marked the first time the Mystics had knocked off the Steel in Invercargill, and did it in style, 70-50. The defensive unit lead by Most Valuable Player (MVP) Sulu Fitzpatrick nullified a Steel attack that piled on 71 goals against the Tactix in Round 1, to string back-to-back wins in Round 2.

In a stunning opening term, the Mystics completely shut down the dominant Steel attack, racing to a 10-goal lead at quarter time. Fitzpatrick and impressive talent Carys Stythe – who started this game over the returning Phoenix Karaka – restricted the Steel to just nine goals, after the home team opted to start Saviour Tui and Georgia Heffernan over Round 1 MVP George Fisher in the goal circle.

That decision proved costly, as the Mystics were firing on all cylinders on the attacking end, as gun shooter Grace Nweke put up 15 goals from 16 attempts, whilst Tayla Earle had more goal assists (10) than the Steel had goals (nine). Unsurprisingly, Gisher was brought onto court for the second term, with Tui moved to goal attack and Heffernan sent to the bench. Stythe also made way for Silver Ferns star Karaka, though that swap would be reversed midway through the second term.

The term started fairly evenly, with the Mystics scoring first and getting out to a 12-goal lead at one stage early, then as much as 15 at the 10-minute mark after Nweke and Monica Falkner scored 11-6 to that point. The Steel clawed their way back to put up seven of the next nine goals, but still faced a double-digit deficit with a 13-all quarter. Kate Burley did well on Nweke to restrict her to the seven goals in the term, whilst Shannon Saunders (Six goal assists from 10 feeds) got back on top of Earle.

Saunders shuffled to wing attack for the start of the third term, with Kate Heffernan moving into centre, and Kate Hartley coming on in wing defence, whilst Ali Wilshier had a rest. The Mystics also made a couple of changes with Falkner and Claire O’Brien coming off, while Filda Vui and Elisapeta Toeava replaced them in the front third.

Though Vui scored off her first chance just 18 seconds into the quarter, it was the Steel that started to take control, scoring six of the next seven goals to reduce the deficit to seven midway through the quarter, and looking like being a threat. But a crucial turnover and then a miss saw Nweke and the Mystics punish them by scoring five consecutive goals to blow it back out to a 42-31 lead. That lead increased late, with Nweke scoring four of the last five goals to head into the final break with the visitors up 47-35 after a 15-13 term.

Nweke was superb in the third term, not missing a shot from 14 attempts, whilst Toeava had a quarter-high seven goal assists at 100 per cent feeding efficiency. For the Steel, Saunders and Kate Heffernan both had five goal assists from eight feeds, whilst Tui hit seven goals from eight attempts. Though the last term saw a number of changes – including resting Nweke and bringing Falkner back on – the result did not change, and in fact the Mystics blew the game wide open with a 23-15 quarter to run away with the 20-goal victory, 70-50. The lead got out to as much as 24 goals before Nweke came off, and whilst the Steel managed to trim it back four goals, it was to no avail.

Fitzpatrick earned MPV honours for two intercepts and three rebounds, working well with Stythe and Karaka in the defensive circle. Earle (26 goal assists from 32 feeds) and Toeava (12 from 15 in a half) were strong in midcourt, whilst Nweke put up 50 goals from 52 attempts in a herculean feat. Fisher scored 24 from 29 after strangely not starting, whilst Saunders (18 goal assists) from 34 feeds and goal keeper Burley (one intercept, one rebound) tried hard.

Both sides take to the court again next Sunday, March 28, with the Northern Mystics hosting Central Pulse at The Trusts Arena, whilst Southern Steel host Northern Stars at Invercargill again.