Steel's winning streak ends

This was not the performance that Southern Steel wanted to take in the playoffs.

In reality, it was a meaningless match – the side always finishes second and will host the preliminary final of the ANZ Premiership.

The 65-59 loss to the Northern Stars in Auckland means she's losing her solid form and winning streak of four.

The Steel was scoreless Jennifer O'Connell, who stayed home with the disease.

Paea Selby-Rickit goes to the penalty shoot and Olivia Bates makes her first start in goal attack.

Both gave strong performances, Selby-Rickit shooting 48/53 to make the most goals in Steel colors, while Bates

They were helped by the attack from the wing Gina Crampton, who continued her strong form and fed a big ball in both.

However, it was not enough to spill the Stars.The game began to unravel in the second half. Steel fell the third quarter 20-15 and the fourth 17-13.

The star attack was clinical and its snipers accurate.

Maia Wilson and Paula Griffin missed just five shots between them and the steel could not keep up

The Steel was late in the second pass and took the entire first quarter to go back.

Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit offered the Stars a morning breakaway, which they did not do.

They took the advantage over the pass from Steel's opening center and scored their own goal to go 2-0.

The Steel attack began to find his pace even though defensively he had his hands full. But when he returned the ball to give Te Paea Selby-Rickit long passes, he never lost more than three points behind him.

The defense finally started to create turnovers and a strong late game allowed Selby-Rickit to tie the score at 15-15. This continued into the second quarter and the steel quickly jumped to a 20-17 lead.

The stars tied up things before falling back and tying things up again.

the clock to perfection in the last minute to score twice in the last 10 seconds and lead 31-28 at halftime.

This quickly closed, however. Two steel turnovers in search of Te Paea Selby-Rickit gave the Stars the possession of cutting edge in front of 38-36

The Steel snatched that back, before a good period of the Stars brought them to 47 -43

. Te Paea Selby-Rickit scored on the vibrator to make 48-46 before the last quarter.

The Steel was 49-48 ahead, but from there, the Stars got the upper hand.

They took a four-goal lead in 57-53 and, while Steel reduced the margin to one, the Stars restored the deficit by four goals and withdrew six.

ANZ Premiership
Scores

Northern Stars 65

Maia Wilson 42/45, Paula Griffin 23/25.

Southern Steel 59

Te Paea Selby-Rickit 48/53, Olivia Bates 11/14.

Quarter: Q1 15-15, Q2 13-16, Q3 20-15, Q4 17-13.