Margaret Forsyth, a former Mystics assistant coach who died in May, was at the front of captain Sulu Fitzpatrick's thoughts after they beat the Tactix.
Is this the Northern Mystics year? Captain Sulu Fitzpatrick weighs in stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Anna Harrison (L) defends over Grace Nweke.
Photo: Photosport
The stealthlike defender debuted for the Otago Rebels in 2002 as a 19-year-old in the old national league.
So meteoric was her rise that the West Coast product was part of the Silver Ferns gold medal success at the 2003 Netball World Cup.
In 2006 she won a Commonwealth Games gold medal, something she repeated in 2010 when she returned to netball after a couple of years on the international beach volleyball circuit.
But the closest she s come to winning a domestic title was in 2011 when the Northern Mystics lost to the Queensland Firebirds in the grand final of the old trans-Tasman competition.