West Coast Fever moved two games clear in the top four on the ladder with a hard-fought 79-69 win over Queensland Firebirds in their Round 12 clash at Nissan Arena in Brisbane.
The win also saw coach Stacey Marinkovich increase her career success rate to 51 per cent in her 100th game as Fever coach with an overall record of 51 wins, 44 losses and five draws.
“That meant a huge amount, more for the way that we played the game,” Marinkovich said.
“That was a real finals type of intensity. Firebirds were scoring extremely well, as were we, so you really needed to work hard to gain ball and then take it through the court, and I thought the girls really absorbed the grind out on court.”
“I think their execution and persistence really paid off.”
Led by another shooting masterclass from Jhaniele Fowler with 64 goals at 97 percent accuracy, Fever held a narrow lead for the majority of the match but had to work hard to shake off the Firebirds in the fourth quarter.
Verity Charles, Alice Teague-Neeld and Jess Anstiss provided Fowler with silver service, tallying 25, 17 and 14 goal assists respectively.
At the defensive end, Sunday Aryang was busy with three intercepts and three gains while Courtney Bruce had six deflections.
Both sides started the game with patient ball movement and traded goals in the opening quarter before Charles made an intercept to shift the momentum Fever’s way and they moved three goals ahead.
Firebirds fought back to level the scores before Fever pushed ahead again, with Fowler scoring 19 first quarter goals and Alice Teague-Neeld adding one to set up a 20-15 lead for Fever at the first break.
Fever maintained their advantage through a physical second quarter, which saw bodies colliding at both ends of the court in a hard-fought encounter.
Teague-Neeld scored two Suncorp Super Shots in the final five minutes of the quarter, but Firebirds shooters Gretel Bueta and Romelda Aiken both replied with long bombs of their own for a 41-35 score line at the conclusion of an entertaining first half.
Fever pushed the margin out to eight early in the third quarter but still couldn’t shake off the Firebirds, who continued applying pressure and managed to stay in touch, with Bueta’s creative play-making important for her side.
Sasha Glasgow entered the game for the power five and added a super-shot for a five-goal margin at three quarter time, with Fever leading 58-53.
Jemma Mi Mi added to the Firebirds injury woes in the final quarter, leaving the court with what appeared to be an achilles injury, but the Queensland side continued fighting hard, making Fever earn every possession.
Glasgow lit up the scoreboard with another super-shot in the final five minutes and Fowler extended her total to 64 goals, seeing Fever extend the margin to 10 goals in the dying stages for the 79-69 win.
