Netball: Magic captain hails defence

The Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic have notched up their seventh straight win to boost their playoff hopes and severely dent the Northern Mystics chances of clinching the minor premiership.

The Magic have won 48-46 in Auckland after leading by as many as eight goals in the final quarter.

The defensive circle of Casey Williams and Leana de Bruin put the Mystics shooters under pressure throughout with Mystics shooter Maria Tutaia having just a 33 percent success rate in the second quarter.

Magic captain Laura Langman is hailing her defensive end.

"I think the inside outside links are really tight and the pressure that those in-circle defenders did was massive. So huge ups to both of them, and they rebounded really strongly."

Langman says the team showed real determination to hold on.

"We kept scoring our own even though we turned it over, in some periods we turned it back over. I'd put it down to just scoring, and looking after the ball when we had it.

"I thought what was great to see was we kept composure. We kept scoring our own and we came out on top - it was great."

The Mystics fall from topping the competition back to third, while the Magic move into fourth place with two rounds left.

Photo: Magic's captain Laura Langman (Photosport)