THE Mainland Tactix caused a huge boilover in the ANZ Premiership on Sunday afternoon with a scintillating win over Northern Stars, who have fallen off the wagon in recent weeks (52-39). The win bumped the Tactix up into second spot on the ladder as the loss sees the Stars fall to fourth.

An early miss to Maia Wilson gifted the Tactix the upper hand nice and early with Karin Burger picking up the crumbs. It was a messy start to the game with both attacking ends giving away ball nice and early but it was the Tactix that settle first. Burger proved that she came to play with the goal defence disrupting play twice in a row with Ellie Bird delivering the goods in the frontend for the home side. Kimiora Poi had a spring in her step down in the defensive third as she collected an impressive deflection as the transition down court caught the Stars off guard. Burger was in just about everything using her turn of speed and read of the play to cause a ruckus. The Tactix opened up a nice handy four goal lead with their defensive nous forcing the Stars to cough up ball with mis-directed passes.

It was an incredibly scrappy couple of minutes of play with neither side able to consolidate on the amount of defensive ball being won. Errant passes and bad hands were dictating the play but luck was proving to be on the Tactix side. Jamie Hume slotted her first goal of the game with a tick under six minutes to play after missing her first two shots of the game. The Stars managed to dwindle the deficit back to three goals before the Tactix defence once again kicked it up a gear. There was plenty happening out on court with Anna Harrison leaving the court with a blood rule albeit momentarily, while Hume was called for an offensive contact as the Stars struggled to find their mojo.

Wilson was up against it down in the circle for the Stars. It took just over a minute for the first goal of the second quarter to be scored with both sides struggling to hit their straps. Poi was working a million miles an hour as was Te Paea Selby-Rickit with the goal attack not only finding a wealth of space but dishing off pinpoint passes. With Wilson sitting at a mere 50 per cent, Monica Falkner made her way onto the court in goal shooter in hope to shake things up in the goal circle. Jane Watson did not have a bar of Falkner with the goal keeper imposing herself and winning a holding the ball call the minute she came out onto the court. The Tactix opened up a handy seven-goal lead before the Stars piled on two straight to eat into the deficit.

Gina Crampton upped the ante in attack for the Stars controlling proceedings with her bullet like passes into Falkner and Hume as the Stars got back to within two goals. Harrison and Elle Temu started to come to life but Burger said “anything you can do, I can do better” as she gifted the home side with a huge intercept. The Tactix midcourt became somewhat stagnant and unable find circle edge until Erikana Pedersen was injected into the thick of things with her speed coming to the fore. Greer Sinclair was working in overdrive to match her new opponent in Pedersen as the pair went toe-to-toe around the perimeter edge. It was turning into a goal for goal slog with neither side able to break stride and just managing to score off their own centre passes such was the intensity.

Only up by two goals to start the quarter the Tactix came out with some real venom. They slotted five goals straight with Burger putting on a show down in defence with her quick reflexes and overall netball smarts. although Selby-Rickit was not having an overly huge impact on the board it was her ability to flick the ball around the court that impressed and kept the defenders guessing. Wilson re-entered the fray for the Stars but it made little to no difference as the Tactix defence including Charlotte Elley out the front put up a strong wall and did not allow for any easy passage of play.

The lead skipped out to seven goals in the backend of the quarter with the Tactix controlling the momentum but the Stars throwing absolutely everything they had at them. The Stars got on a roll with two goals and while they were looking for their third it was Watson that once again stood up with a huge intercept. Moments later Burger got involved in the thick of things somehow flicking the ball back to Poi as they pushed the lead out eight goals.

Struggling to score Amorangi Malesala was deployed out in goal shooter and impressed from the moment she stepped out on court with two goals in a row. But the Tactix showed their level of composure and class to ride through the wave and stand up tall to forge ahead. It was turning into somewhat of a shootout as Malesala and Selby-Rickit went blow for blow for their respective sides. Pedersen and Poi were doing a mountain load of work out the front for the Tactix as Crampton plied her trade for the Stars. A couple of goals in a row for the Stars gave them some hope but the Tactix were intent on grinding out the game as they ran home with a 13-goal win.

Wilson had a game she would rather forget with the goal shooter only managed eight from 16 at 50 per cent leaving Hume to lead the way with her 15 goals from 20 attempts. Falkner enjoyed 16 minutes of court time slotting eight from nine the most accurate Stars shooter on court as Malesala managed eight from 11 in her quarter of netball. Crampton amassed 16 goal assists while down the other end of the court Harrison and Temu were up to their usual tricks with eight and five gains a piece including eight intercepts. Bird was unstoppable under the post with her 44 goals from 45 attempts as Selby-Rickit slotted eight at 57 per cent but did a mountainload of work out the front credit to her 30 goal assists. Burger and Watson had a field day with a staggering 22 gains. Burger finished with five intercepts and five rebounds as Watson recorded two intercepts and three deflections.