Stars Succumb To Steel In Auckland
The Stars made an encouraging start, having struggled recently in the first quarter of matches. The Stars showed composure with ball in hand, not afraid to press the reset button and feed the ball back to their defenders before sending another attacking raid the Steel's way.
Both sides traded goals and it was becoming a case of who'd blink first and unfortunately for the Stars they lost some poise and mistakes began to creep in, allowing the Steel to edge in front.
Starting in goal shoot, Maia Wilson was a pillar of power under the hoop and combined well with Monica Falkner who was in the goal attack bib.
The sound of the two-point hooter did little to tempt either side, as they continued to work their way into the contest, with zero two-pointers attempted throughout the quarter.
The Steel finished the period the strongest of the sides and held a 15-11 lead at the break.
The Steel continued to ride their wave of momentum into the second quarter and went on a ruthless seven-goal run to stun the Stars and take an 11-goal lead.
However, in true Stars spirit, they refused to quit and let the Steel get away from them in front of their home crowd.
The introduction of Samon Nathan to wing attack was timely, as she added a calming influence and showed her experience, re-igniting the Stars' attack and with Charlie Bell making some immense plays in the shooting circle, suddenly the Stars went on a surge of their own to be down by just four goal late in the half.
Julia Wynands added spark in her Stars debut at goal defence, heaping pressure on the Steel shooters alongside Remi Kamo.
The Steel responded with some nice play of their own and as the whistle sounded for the end of the half, the Stars found themselves down 29-23, after a stellar effort in the back end of the quarter.
The Stars worked tirelessly to try and force turnovers and find a way to wrestle the lead off the Steel, but the Southerners weren't going to give anything up easily.
Goals were traded back and forth like a tennis rally for much of the quarter and while the Stars showed promising signs, they frustratingly couldn't make any proper inroads into the scoreboard.
The Steel appeared to gain a second wind late in the quarter and powered to a commanding lead, up 47-35 as the game headed to its final quarter.
Despite scoreboard pressure taking its toll, the Stars continued to give their all to the final whistle with a number of plays to smile about.
Kamo and Wynands combined well in their first game together and made some great defensive plays late in the fourth.
Bell finished the game netting of her shots at goal in one of her best outings of the season, while Mila Reuelu-Buchanan had some classy touches to find her rangy shooter.
The Stars next head to Christchurch to face the Tactix on Sunday.
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