13 March 2010

The Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel ended its ANZ Championship build-up with a 51-58 defeat to the Canterbury Tactix in Dunedin today.

It was a lacklustre performance from the Southerners in their final game of an intense pre-season campaign which has taken place on both sides of the Tasman and featured 19 matches in the past five weeks.

But captain Megan Dehn wasn`t looking for excuses, conceding her team simply wasn`t up to the task.

“Everyone should have stepped up and adjusted ... we didn`t have a good game at all, right across the court,” she said.

“We had our chances and just didn`t convert them.”

Coach Robyn Broughton agreed.

“We didn`t play well ... every time we got a turnover we threw it away and we can`t do that,” she said.

The Steel will now enjoy hard-earned break – albeit brief – before regrouping next week to focus on its opening ANZ Championship match against the West Coast Fever in Invercargill on Sunday, March 21.

Yesterday, the Tactix proved it has made good strides in recent weeks, turning a 20-goal drubbing last time the two teams met into a confidence-boosting victory.

The Tactix struggled to find composure initially as the Steel stormed to an early 5-1 lead and clung to a slight 16-15 advantage at the break.

Both teams opted for their Australian shooters in the wing attack bib – Dehn for Steel and Chelsea Pitman for Tactix.

Despite a promising performance, Pitman was outshone in the feeding stakes by team-mate and Silver Fern shoot Anna Thompson, whose canny knack for evading defenders proved crucial.

Combining strongly with goal shoot Ellen Halpenny, Thompson was the main instigator in ball sailing into the right space, despite the efforts of Steel defenders Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit and Leana de Bruin.

The Tactix snatched the lead early in the second spell and never relinquished it, winning the next three quarters.

The Steel strung together some impressive phases more in keeping with the calibre of its players, but struggled to maintain any consistency while contending with an obviously hungrier opposition.

Tactix coach Helen Mahon-Stroud said the result would boost her team heading into its first round clash against the Central Pulse.

“We`re just really looking forward to the competition beginning and getting into it because that`s what we`re training so long and hard for – there`s a great level of excitement,” she said.

“We will take a lot of positives from this win ... we`re just steadily building.”

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