Netball: Southern Steel beat Northern Stars to set up final-round fight in ANZ Premiership

Stars shooter Amelia Walmsley claims possession. Photo: photosport

Southern Steel have come from behind to sweep aside Northern Stars 71-59 and set up a three-way fight for the top-qualifying spot with one round to play in netball’s ANZ Premiership.

The Steel’s seventh win from nine games this season sees them past Mainland Tactix into second place behind Northern Mystics.

All three teams have a chance to claim the top seed for the playoffs, handing them an automatic place in the grand final and pushing the second and third placed sides into an elimination final.

The Mystics have the inside running to repeat last year’s minor premiership, after beating the Tactix 53-51 in an extra-time thriller in Christchurch on Saturday.

The Auckland side now need only to beat the last-placed Magic next week to stay on top.

However, any slip-up would leave the door open for the Steel and champion Tactix, who play each other in Invercargill in the final game of the regular season on Sunday.

Georgia Heffernan (L) in action for the Southern Steel against the Northern Stars. Photo: photosport

The Steel will be coming off an impressive win in Auckland, after the fourth-placed Stars had raced to a five goal advantage in the opening quarter.

The visitors then dominated the second quarter, winning it 21-13 to snatch a five-goal lead at halftime.

They kept the Stars at arm’s length and then pulled clear over the final stanza.

The Steel’s early problems could have been down to adjusting to life without captain and influential midcourter Kimiora Poi, who was ruled out during the week for the remainder of the season with a calf injury.

Steel shooter Aliyah Dunn - the league’s leading scorer - landed 55 of 56 shots to continue her prolific season.

She praised her teammates for the numbers she’d racked up.

“We’ve done a lot of work this year to get the feeding right and get the placement right - so then I can shoot the ball right under the hoop,” she told TVNZ, also expressing happiness that all 11 squad members were handed court time by coach Wendy Frew.

“Really happy, it was pretty cool that we got everyone on the court and everybody stepped up today.”

Goal shoot Amelia Walmsley slotted 46 from 50 for the Stars, who suffered a sixth defeat.

They are guaranteed to finish fourth, regardless of the result of next week’s game against Central Pulse.