Netball's hottest player-coach partnership has steered the Sunshine Coast Lightning into a third straight Super Netball grand final after a 58-48 major semi-final win against the NSW Swifts.
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Coach Noeline Taurua and captain Laura Langman have positioned their team within reach of a premiership hattrick which, if successful, would be the first secured in elite Australian domestic netball since the Swifts outfit of 2006-08.
New Zealand duo Taurua and Langman are at the peak of their powers, having lost just once across 15 domestic and World Cup games since the beginning of June.
Langman and her midcourt partner Laura Scherian moved with finely-tuned precision to break down the Swifts' resistance.
Shooters Cara Koenen (30/32) and Steph Wood (22/29) then kept the scoreboard ticking over to guide the Lightning straight into the Brisbane-hosted grand final on September 14.
In a sign of the sport's increasing globalisation, only half the starting players across both teams were eligible for Australia.
Two of the sport's international stars - Langman and the Swifts' English shooter Helen Housby - started brilliantly but the game swung wildly on the Kiwi's involvement.
Her battle with NSW centre Paige Hadley was pivotal, and by halftime Langman had 24 feeds, just one less than the combined tally of the Swifts' midcourt.
Australian Associated Press
