The Comets were forced to call on all of their experience to open their Synergy Hair Netball League campaign with a hard-fought win over their cross-town rivals, the Northern Marvels.
Having retained the core of last year’s winning team, the defending champions showed their superior connections when the pressure went on to hold out the Marvels 58-51 at Eventfinda Stadium in Auckland.
The Marvels did their best to come from behind with a couple of Super Shots in the final quarter but the strong defensive efforts from the Comets proved telling when it mattered.
Comets captain Abbie Leger said she was pleased with their first up performance despite allowing the Marvels back into the game at times.
“I think we had lulls in a few of the quarters, but it was good to see that we can persevere and keep pushing towards the end to come back,” she said.
She was also pleased to be able to get most of her side on court during the match with coach Michelle Parsons testing various combinations.
“We’re super lucky to have heaps of depth in our team and heaps of versatility in our skill so we know whoever comes on that it will be seamless which I think showed today,” Leger said.
The shooting circle of Crystal Maro and Jaelin Tulikaki combined well, and they were serviced with accurate ball from Leger, while at the other end of the court, the defensive unit put their opponents under immense pressure.
Marvels captain Courtney Katterns sparked her side into action with a driving intercept to help level the scores and they were forced to show plenty of patience on attack, waiting for the space to open in the shooting circle.
Goal attack Stacey Ah Van was the first to land a Super Shot in the national netball league, landing two points in the opening quarter and helping her team close the gap to two goals.
But a late change at goal attack for the Comets, with long range specialist Marie Hansen coming on for Maro, the visitors made the most of the two-point scoring zone to land two successful Super Shots and go into the break with an 18-12 lead.
They maintained that pressure early in the second quarter to extend their advantage to eight goals, but the Marvels looked poised to strike with their defensive pairing of Katterns and Leila Atkins getting hand to ball.
Parsons looked to change things up midway through the spell with Maro returning to the shooting circle alongside Eseta Autagavaia at shooter.
But a few untidy errors from the Comets opened the door for the Marvels with Sophia Lafaiali’i landing a key Super Shot late in the quarter to go into the main break trailing 26-31.
The Marvels picked up from where they left off in the third quarter, slowly eating away at the deficit led by the efforts of replacement keeper Jazmin Tufaga and through the middle by Charli Foster and Shayla Nepia with the difference just two goals.
It was the Comets however who finished the third quarter the strongest as turnovers started to mount for both teams, heading into the deciding spell with a 43-38.
Meanwhile, in other matches this weekend the Waikato-BOP Waikato defeated Central Manawa 59-44.