The penultimate round of the ANZ Premiership (ANZP) took place this weekend with the international Netball Family tuning in on NetballPass dealt with some shock results, as the race for the Finals continues.
First up, Mystics continued their recent run of good results, with their Silver Fern shooter, Grace Nweke, playing her first full 60 minutes since returning from injury.
Nweke did not disappoint, scoring 57 goals and making eight rebounds, as Mystics scored off 84% of their centre passes, compared to Pulse that scored off just 66%.
Mystics conversion percentage, and dominant second quarter, was what saw them take the 68-58 win, keeping them hot on the tales of Pulse, who sit in 2nd place.
Pulse’s defeat meant that Tactix remained top of the table, despite them also losing in Round 14 to 4th place Magic.
With Tactix wanting to finish the season top of the table and Magic fighting for a spot in the top three this was a very end-to-end clash, in which the lead changed 10 times.
With 15-minutes to go Magic lead by two goals, leaving it all still to play for.
Live on NetballPass the Netball Family watched the battle between Silver Ferns Ameliaranne Ekenasio and Jane Watson, Ekenasio missed just one shot for Magic and received 19 centre passes, but Watson didn’t make it easy for her to do so, as she made five gains, five deflections, and two intercepts.
A late flurry of four goals for Magic allowed them to maintain this two-goal lead, as the fourth quarter finished 49-51 in their favour.
The final match of the weekend was an even closer encounter, with Steel beating Stars by just one goal.
As expected in a match-up between the bottom two teams this was a game that went down to the final seconds, in a game of unpredictability.
Despite being the eventual losing side, Stars did capitalise off more of their centre passes than Steel.
However, Steel were stronger in defence and managed to convert their turnovers to goals.
It wasn’t until the final quarter that Stars managed to shoot ahead after they scored three successive goals, taking the marginal win 53-54.
The final round of the ANZP will take place next weekend, and will see the following games live on NetballPass:
- Steel vs Magic
- Stars vs Mystics
- Pulse vs Tactix
To view all the results, the current table, and read our International Player Watch preview, visit our ANZP page now.