Swifts crowned queens of netball

The New South Wales Swifts have become the inaugural ANZ Championship winners after they defeated the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic 65-56 in the Grand Final on Monday night at Acer Arena in Sydney.

New South Wales started off the better of the two sides and at the opening break led 19-14.

Waikato/Bay of Plenty had a better account of itself in the second period but still trailed at the major break 34-28.

The Magic continued to press their case in the third stanza, outscoring the hosts 17-16 to head into the final change trailing 50-45.

However, despite a promising a middle two quarters from the visitors, the Swifts were too good for their counterparts in the final term, outscoring them 15-11 to take out the trans-Tasman title.

Catherine Cox and Susan Pratley were the leading goal-scorers for the champions with 36 and 24 goals respectively.

For Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Irene van Dyk produced a stunningly accurate tally of 45 goals from 46 attempts while Maria Tutaia managed 11 of her own.