West Coast Fever were defeated 68-59 by Melbourne Vixens in Round 5 of the Suncorp Super Netball at Nissan Arena on Tuesday.
Fever got out of the blocks early to take a three-goal lead, but the top-of-the-table Vixens stepped up a gear and took control of the game, courtesy of Caitlin Thwaites and Tegan Philip, who was unstoppable with her with 8/10 super shots for the game.
A number of turnovers saw Fever drop back by nine goals in the second quarter with a couple of missed passes costing Fever vital on the scoreboard. Kaylia Stanton came on in the second term and attempted to get Fever back in the game with three super-shot attempts, allowing Fowler to capitalise on the rebound.
Defender Stacey Francis said: We were disappointed with the work we put out there, the first four rounds we’ve been going into halftime in a really strong position and we weren’t today.”
“We were chasing the game and I'm not sure we ever hit the right gear to close that gap against a quality side.” Francis said.
Fever’s third quarter was up and down as they once again started well with three unanswered goals, but Vixen broke away to score a number of unanswered goals to create a margin of 11 goals, the highest for the game. Thwaites and Philip were unstoppable with Philip scoring 2/2 super shots. Fever training partner Emma Cosh replied with two of her own super shots to close the margin to 45-52.
The last quarter was much the same, as Vixens took their super shots, Fever couldn’t and continued to chip away at the lead with single goals.
Goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler finished the game with 47 goals from 48 attempts and one super shot, and six rebounds, three were from her own shots on goal.
Emma Cosh did well with 2/2 super shots and 13 goal assists.
“Coshy came on and had great speed and injection, although she was playing against an incredibly seasoned international player in Jo (Weston), she held her own, she has great movement and is also very confident to go to post.” Francis said.
Captain Courtney Bruce played for three quarters notching up four rebounds and three deflections, two of those resulting in a gain.
