Charlie Bell is injured during the Northern Mystics v Stars ANZ Premiership match, on Sunday. Photo: Blake Armstrong
The Stars captain could not hold back tears after watching three team-mates helped off the court in their ANZ Premiership season opener.
The Mystics beat the Stars 71-55 on Auckland's North Shore, but the Stars had to exhaust all their bench options in a game marred by injury.
Wing defence Greer Sinclair had to be wheeled off late in the first quarter, with what looked like a potentially serious knee injury.
Defender Kate Burley then had to come off late in third quarter, with a suspected lower leg injury, then with 90 seconds left in the game Charlie Bell came off with what looked like an ankle or calf injury.
Captain Maia Wilson, who has been playing elite netball for a decade told Sky Sport "I've never been in a game like this".
The Stars had to do a lot of shuffling, with midcourter Mila Reuelu-Buchanan only able to play 30 minutes in her first game since injuring her knee last year.
The team already had reinforcements, with training partner Tori Kolose covering midcourter Samon Nathan, who is out injured for a few weeks. Shooter Monica Falkner was used at wing attack at times during the game.
Donnell Wallam is playing for the Mystics (file photo). Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
The Stars got off to a promising start.
It was a high scoring first quarter, with a remarkable eight super shots nailed between Filda Vui, Maia Wilson, and Charlie Bell, at a 100 percent conversion rate. Just as remarkable, was that no super shot was landed after that.
The Stars led 22-20 at the first turn - their best-ever first quarter score in the competition.
But the Mystics took advantage of a break in play courtesy of a Stars team time-out, five minutes into the second quarter, and came out with new energy.
The defending champions applied pressure and started chipping into the Stars lead. The Mystics jumped ahead of the Stars 35-32 at half-time, winning the quarter 15-10.
Mystics goal keep Catherine Hall started pulling off some well-timed intercepts. Wing attack Peta Toeava started coming to the fore with some flashy feeds in to new shooter Donnell Wallam, who finished the game with an impressive 52 goals at 91 percent.
Bell too was promising for the Stars, with the Australian scoring 41 goals and proving a nice target.
Tactix beat Steel
The Tactix beat the Steel 57-50 in Christchurch in the final match of the round on Sunday.
The Steel had their own injuries to deal with, calling in Stars training partner Khanye-Lii Munro-Nonoa as cover in the defensive end.
Silver Fern Kate Heffernan was out after picking up a knee injury earlier in the week during training - it's not known how serious it is.
Liana Leota spent three years as the England Roses technical coach. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2023 www.photosport.nz
So assistant Steel coach and former Silver Fern Liana Leota was named on the bench for the southerners. Remarkably, and to the delight of the crowd, the 40-year-old spent 10 minutes on court at wing attack for her old club, when she was injected in the third quarter.
Last year Leota stepped down from her role as England Roses technical coach and her position as Leeds Rhinos director of netball to take up the assistant coaching role at the Steel.
Her last season playing domestic netball was in 2022 in the England league.
The Tactix led 14-10 after the first quarter, but the Steel dominated the second spell to take a 27-26 half-time lead.
The home side took a 1 goal lead at the final turn and really put their foot down in the final 15 minutes.
The game saw the second suspension of the weekend with Steel goal shoot Aliyah Dunn sent to the bench for two minutes for dangerous play in the final quarter.
Tactix shooter Martina Salmon was impressive at her new club, shooting 26 goals in her 30 minutes on court, plus landing a super shot.
Former Tactix player Dunn, scored 32 goals as well as three super shots, and Georgia Heffernan finished with 10 goals and two super shots.
Carys Stythe, who made the move from the Mystics to the Steel came up with a lot of turnovers to earn the MVP honours.
Read what happened, in the Mystics - Stars game, with RNZ's blog:
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