Diamonds claim Constellation Cup in extra-time thriller
Melissa Woods |
The Diamonds’ trophy cabinet is again complete after they snapped their New Zealand drought against the Silver Ferns in a thrilling extra time period to bring the Constellation Cup back to Australia.
The Diamonds’ last win in New Zealand came in 2021 in Christchurch and the Australians were again celebrating in the south island city, regaining the trans-Tasman trophy on Wednesday night.
With the Diamonds expertly managing the last minute, Sophie Garbin scored the winning goal with four seconds left on the clock, clinching a 12-11 victory.
With the Silver Ferns winning game four 62-57 to level at 2-2, the Cup went on the line in Series Decider Time, which was two seven-minute halves.
New Zealand raced out to a 3-0 lead before the Diamonds, who had a shocker in the final quarter of regulation to give up a three-goal lead, settled into the mini-match.
The world champions were up 7-5 at halftime but couldn’t rest after also leading through three quarters of regulation before the home side roared home to win the final term 19-11.
In the second half of extra time, New Zealand drew level at 11-11 with sharp-shooter Grace Nweke goal with one minute 20 left on the clock but Australia smartly starved their opposition of another chance.
They worked the ball around the court to run the clock down before feeding the ball into Garbin in the final seconds for her to slot the match-winner, allowing them to retrieve the trophy from their arch rivals.
With Sunday Aryang falling heavily before fulltime was called, the Diamonds looked shell-shocked with goal attack Kiera Austin in tears.
But with the trophy in their grasp their victory started to sink in.
“To get the win is awesome. I guess the way it finished, not so awesome,” Diamonds skipper Liz Watson said.
“It’s just a weird format to play that extra 14 minutes, to be honest, but look, everyone had a great series, and we’re really proud to be able to finish with the Cup.”
It looked like Australia were going to win the series 3-1 having led after every quarter in a strong response to their disappointing game-three showing in Hamilton.
With a two-pronged shooting attack with Garbin and Austin both options and the Silver Ferns reliant only on Nweke, the Diamonds skipped out to a 17-12 lead.
Nweke missed two shots early although underlined her superstar status by only missing one other shot for the match, finishing with 56 goals from 59 attempts.
Only one goal split the teams in the second term with the Diamonds maintaining a handy buffer 33-27.
But buoyed by a vocal home crowd, the Kiwis lifted and levelled at 37-37 midway through the third quarter.
The Aussies pulled away again to lead 46-43 heading into the final quarter but momentum swung with the Silver Ferns, with veteran goal-keeper Kelly Jackson proving a major disrupter in the Diamonds’ goal circle.
They hit the lead after pouncing on a turnover with just over nine minutes left on the clock and never looked back.
Despite that commanding victory, the night belonged to the Diamonds who took the extra period to win their 12th Constellation Cup series since 2010.
AAP
