Southern Steel shooter Jennifer O’Connell will have a scan this week to assess a knee injury suffered on Friday night. 

The 23-year-old landed painfully on her left leg in the fourth quarter of the Round 5 ANZ Premiership match against Central Pulse and was assisted from the court.

Head coach Reinga Bloxham said it was another cruel blow having lost fellow shooter Georgia Heffernan to a season ending knee injury in Round 3.

“Everyone is feeling really gutted for her because she was improving with every game. The team as a whole was performing a lot stronger with her there so she is going to be a big loss for us to fill,” Bloxham said.

“We really felt that we were right in the contest with the Pulse and felt that our playing performance had really improved each week, so it’s a huge task to have to rebuild that shooting combination and end again.”

The Pulse were given a serious workout before grinding out a tight 40-37 win over the Southern Steel at the Auckland Netball Centre on Friday.

With the Pulse leading by just two in the closing minutes, the Steel had three chances to create an upset, twice being foiled by Pulse custodian and MVP Kelly Jury and the third when O’Connell fell awkwardly in the shooting circle and the ball dribbled out of court.

Unfortunately, the injured O’Connell had to be stretchered off and with 55 seconds left on the clock, time had run out for the Steel.

On Saturday night, a strong fourth quarter push helped the Northern Stars put the seal on a 48-39 win to end a gritty challenge from the Southern Steel.

Losing key shooter O’Connell to injury the previous night, the Steel threw new shooters in Kiana Pelasio and Grace Namana into the fray, both contributing admirably despite their lack of experience.