West Coast Fever opened the Suncorp Super Netball season with a strong 65-51 win over Melbourne Vixens on their home court at John Cain Arena today, Saturday May 1.
Fever lead at every break and were spearheaded by 54 goals from Jhaniele Fowler, two goals and two Suncorp super-shots from Alice Teague-Neeld, and three goals and a super-shot from Sahsa Glasgow in her Fever debut.
Courtney Bruce set the standard early with a deflection on the Vixens’ opening centre pass, helping to set up Jhaniele Fowler’s first of 13 goals in the opening quarter.
The Vixens then settled to build a small lead before Fever fought back and scores see-sawed until the final two minutes of the opening quarter when Teague-Neeld scored her first super-shot and the Fever pushed ahead to lead 16-12 at quarter time.
Bruce and rising star Sunday Aryang, who had two intercepts and three rebounds, were both solid at the defensive end for Fever, while Verity Charles had 17 goal assists after starting at Centre and then moving to Wing Attack.
Vixens Goal Keeper Kadie-Ann Dehaney applied strong defensive pressure to help restrict Fever to their lowest quarter total in the third, with the margin cut back to just four goals before a timeout.
Sasha Glasgow entered the game for Alice Teague-Neeld with two minutes left in the third quarter and nailed a super-shot, helping Fever establish a 47-38 lead at three-quarter time.
Fowler continued to show her composure in the final quarter and was named game MVP as Fever recorded a 65-51 win.
Speaking after the game, Fowler said it had been a confidence-building win.
“It’s a very important win to get our confidence to start the season,” she said.
“That was the intention, just to put our foot on it and make sure that we kept that momentum going our way.
She said she was now looking forward to returning to RAC Arena to play Round 2 in front of the Green Army.
“Our fans have been behind us regardless of what’s been happening, we’ve not been playing in front of them so going home to put on a show in front of them is massively important.”
Fever play NSW Swifts in Round 2 of the Suncorp Super Netball Season at RAC Arena at 6pm on May 8.
Tickets available here.
