Sting book home semifinal

Sting book home semifinal

The combined skills of shooters Daneka Wipiiti and Donna Wilkins steered the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Sting to a sixth straight win today and a home National Bank Cup netball semifinal.

The Sting topped the national league table with a powerful final quarter burst to repel the Goldair Flames 54-46. Barring a major upset in the Trusts Diamonds encounter against the More FM Flyers tomorrow, the result put an end to the Flames season.

In front of a record National Bank Cup crowd of 6000, in Christchurch, the Sting soaked up big pressure from the Flames for three-quarters of the match before unleashing their trademark dominance in the closing quarter.

``I was happy because it was a really hard-fought match,’’ Sting coach Robyn Broughton said.

``They (Flames) took it to us and played really well. They did a good job on us and you could feel they were really hungry for it and we had to absorb all that.

``We did absorb it and then came away.’’

The Flames, who have reveled in the underdog status for much of the competition, denied the Sting the opportunity to play their traditional flowing, fast-paced game with a solid defensive screen through the match.

With the path through court restricted, both teams were forced to play a short game which involved numerous passes and a lot of movement from the attackers.

The Flames struggled with their lack of height at both ends of the court but were industrious on attack where the hard-working midcourt duo of Julie Seymour and Maree Bowden overshadowed their Sting counterparts.

The Sting could not shake the dogged Flames approach, who time and again came back to close the margin.

Trailing 10-14, 24-27, 36-39 at the respective breaks, the Flames resolve was eventually broken in the final quarter when the Sting powered on the pressure in a decisive and telling quarter.

Wilkins impressed in the Sting attack line with a strong return of 24 shots from 27 attempts under the hoop while Wipiiti was influential on the long shot, her height of double value with her ability to gather in rebounds.

Young Flames goal attack Jade Topia kept her team in the match with an inspiring display, in the process recording the most accurate shooting returns of the day. With far less ball to work with than her Sting opposites, Topia calmly slotted 37 shots from 40 attempts for a 92 percent success rate.

Topia got through a huge workload in helping get the ball into the circle as well as putting up a large percentage of the Flames shots. With her shooting partner Shelley Norris well contained by the tenacity and long reach of Sting goalkeep Megan Hutton, the Flames struggled to gain parity in this area.

The Fujifilm Force need to get past the Genesis Energy Shakers tomorrow to claim second spot on the table and the right to meet the Sting in next week’s major semifinal.   

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