West Coast Fever held on for a thrilling one-point win against the New South Wales Swifts in Sydney on Sunday to seal second place on the Suncorp Super Netball ladder.
The result came down to the final seconds when Rudi Ellis pulled in a rebound from a missed Helen Housby Super Shot to secure the win.
Key Moments
Verity Simmons returned after missing last week’s game under Covid protocols, while Zoe Cransberg was ruled out for the same reason, leaving Simmons to run out the game in Centre. She rose to the challenge and played an important role in the win with with 17 assists from 28 feeds.
Quarter By Quarter
1st – WCF 20 | SWI 17
After a tight start to the game, scores remained level until the midway point of the first quarter when Fever scored, forced a turnover and capitalised to move 3 goals in front heading into the power five. A pair of Sasha Glasgow Super Shots saw Fever’s advantage increase to 7 before Helen Housby responded with 3 of her own for the Swifts to reduce the margin to 3.
2nd – WCF 20 | SWI 14
Fever reinstated a 6-point lead in the opening 5 minutes of the second term before a Swifts timeout. Fever continued finding their way to Fowler and Glasgow in the attacking circle, with great ball movement through the mid-court to maintain a 7 point lead with 5 minutes remaining. Fowler’s 31st goal for the game and a Glasgow Super Shot increased the lead to 10 before the Swifts got one back on the half time whistle for a 40-31 score line.
3rd – WCF 15 | SWI 21
The Swifts went on a 5-goal run to halve the margin at the beginning of the third quarter before Fever settled and stemmed the flow to stay 8 in front before a time-out heading into the power five. Three Super Shots from Housby helped the Swifts win the quarter by 6 and reduce Fever’s lead to 55-52 at the last break.
4th – WCF 18 | SWI 20
Neither side could capture clear momentum to start the final term, with Fever maintaining a 3-point lead until half way through the quarter. Fever continued applying scoreboard pressure through the finals minutes but the Swifts drew to within a goal and then levelled scores with a pair of Housby Super Shots. Fowler put Fever back in front and the Swifts had a chance to claim the win before a Rudi Ellis rebound off a missed shot sealed the thrilling 73-72 win.
Final – WCF 73 | SWI 72
By the Numbers
Goals: Fowler 64 | Housby 31
Super Shots: Glasgow 3 | Housby 8
Goal Assists: Teague-Neeld 24 | Proud 23
Feeds: Teague-Neeld 37 | Proud 49
Centre Pass Receives: Teague-Neeld 33 | Hadley 39
Deflections: Bruce 14 | Klau 3
Gains: Bruce 9 | Smith 3
Intercepts: Bruce, Glasgow & Teague-Neeld 1 | Smith 3
Moments
1st qtr intercepts
2nd qtr 2 mins left Sasha saves OOB
