Moments that Mattered
With the score difference just two in favour of Fever heading into the final four minutes, the home side pulled out a clutch performance on all areas of the court with their season on the line. They forced multiple turnovers in the defensive circle and converted them into what would be match winning goals.
Fever Vice Captain Jess Anstiss marked her 100th game in green today when she stepped out on court. The premiership winning Wing Defence helped Fever move the ball from defence to offence when the time came.
Quarter by Quarter
Q1: WCF 15 | VIX 14
As expected, the game got off to a tight start with neither team budging. Fever were the first to give the ball away as Vixens were ruthless in their conversion of Fever errors.
Vixens got out to a four-goal lead before the Diamonds duo of Sunday Aryang and Courtney Bruce flipped the script and got Fever back in the game.
As the Power Five came through an incredible effort from Aryang to gain the ball was converted by Sasha Glasgow with a Super Shot for Fever to take the lead.
Q2: WCF 32 | VIX 30
The game stayed on centre pass for the first half of the quarter as the Vixens shuffled their defensive third and brought on former Fever player Olivia Lewis at Goal Keeper.
Vixens were again the first to force a mistake but the first turnover for the Melbourne side was quickly negated by Bruce.
Despite this, Vixens still managed to forge a small lead which was almost instantly rectified by Fever after a well-timed time out called by Dan Ryan.
When the Power Five came, Fever gained the ball again thanks to a Defensive Rebound from Captain Bruce which resulted in her team leading by two goals at half time.
Q3: WCF 48 | VIX 44
Scores remained close in the third quarter as the Vixens drew level early in the third term. From then on, neither team gave anything away until the Power Five when Fever forced a turnover, again thanks to Bruce’s Rebound.
Fever excelled in the final five minutes, boosting their lead to six goals thanks to a Sasha Glasgow Super Shot. Kiera Austin managed to put in a two-pointer of her own to keep the lead to four goals going into the final quarter.
Q4: WCF 64 | VIX 57
Fever got the lead back out to six goals early in the quarter but the Vixens were determined not to give up, reducing the margin to just two at the start of the Power Five.
From then on Fever dominated play, Bruce came in clutch with another Rebound and Intercept to balloon the lead. Aryang well and truly sealed the game in the final minute with a huge Intercept to bring the crowd to their feet.
Fever will now fly to Sydney to face the NSW Swifts on Saturday Night at Qudos Bank Arena for a place in the Grand Final against the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
Stats
Goals: Fowler 55 | Kumwenda 39
Super Shots: Glasgow 3 | Austin 3
Goal Assists: Teague-Neeld, Glasgow 20 | Watson 23
Feeds: Teague-Neeld 32 | Watson 50
Centre Pass Receives: Teague-Neeld 29 | Watson 31
Deflections: Bruce 15 | Eddy 3
Gains: Bruce 7 | Mannix 2
Intercepts: Aryang 2 | Lewis 1
Match Report By Oliver Lane
