ANZ Championship netball: NSW Swifts survive close call against Mystics to stay top of the table

A FABULOUS final five minutes against Mystics saw the NSW Swifts just escape making headlines as victims of the biggest upset in the ANZ championship this season. Amanda Lulham reports.

The Swifts are hoping to live up to their favouritism tag in the 2016 competition

A FABULOUS final five minutes against New Zealand rival Mystics saw the NSW Swifts just escape making headlines as victims of the biggest upset in the ANZ championship this season in Auckland on Sunday.

With their shooters uncharacteristically out-of-sorts in parts of the match, the NSW Swifts had to dig deep in the final period to protect their position at the top of the ANZ championship Australian ladder with their 59-53 victory.

Caitlin Thwaites helped turn the tide against the Mystics

Thanks to their composure in the dying minutes of the match and the stellar 100 per cent shooting of late injection Caitlin Thwaites (13 from 13), the NSW club survived a major scare against a team with just two wins to their name this season.

It was a close call the Swifts are likely to remember for some time and must learn from if they are to live up to their favouritism for the ANZ championship crown this season.

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The Swifts went into the round 13 match with the upper hand on paper, winners of six of their past nine encounters with Mystics and against a side which boasted the record of just one win and one draw, along with eight losses, against Australian opposition.

Fired-up to protect home turf, the Mystics opened strongly with the Swifts needing 12 minutes of play before they were able to level with the quick-starting New Zealanders at 10-10.

While the Swifts took a 12-10 lead into the first breaks, Mystics came out hard in the second quarter to lead for the majority of the 15 minute period.

Stephanie Wood shot 22 from 27 in the Swifts win over Mystics.

It was only in the final two minutes of the period that the Swifts, shooting at a low 78 per cent for the half, moved ahead of Mystics (shooting at 90 per cent) to take a 28-27 lead into the second half.

By the end of the third quarter the game was tied at 41-41 with superior shooting and stellar defence putting Mystics in with a shot of pulling off the biggest upset of the year.

But the composure of the Swifts came through in the final minutes of the game with the team coming home hard to outscore their rivals 18-12 in the final quarter.

Susan Pettitt shot 24 from 29 before being replaced by Thwaites in the final stanza of the match with Stephanie Wood netting 22 from 27.

Their New Zealand rivals missed juts six goals in the match with Catherine Tuivaiti scoring 31 from 33 and Maria Tutaia 22 from 26.

Originally published as ANZ Championship netball: NSW Swifts survive close call against Mystics to stay top of the table