Sunshine Coast Lightning broke their recent run of four losses to West Coast Fever with an impressive 65-61 win in Perth in Round 10 of the Suncorp Super Netball season.
Turnovers proved costly for Fever, who had 21 compared to Lightning’s 16, while the impact of Lightning Goal Shooter Cara Koenen and her accomplice in attack Steph Wood was also important.
Fever Coach Stacey Marinkovich said Lightning’s attack on the ball, combined with Fever’s inconsistency over four quarters was the difference.
“Lightning were pretty ruthless in attack and I think it took us a while to get our hands on the ball and for us, in moving the ball across the transverse line, I thought we were just a little bit stagnant with our movement which then became one dimensional,” she said.
“When we did have it firing, I thought we had great passages of play, we had great variety and a lot of options, but it’s that inconsistency when you’re playing in this League or you’re playing against a team like Lightning that they capitalise on.”
It took time for Fever to settle from the outset with some wayward passes seeing Lightning build a five goal lead early in the first quarter before Fever captain Courtney Bruce made a pair of intercepts and Alice Teague-Neeld hit a Suncorp Super-Shot to help reduce the margin to one goal at the first break.
The battle continued in the second with both teams trading goals, Fowler taking her total to 26 without a miss and Lightning GS Kara Koenen contributing 25 for her side at 93 per cent accuracy to see scores level at 33-all heading into the half time break.
Jess Anstiss moved into Centre for Fever to start the second half and Verity Charles to Wing Attack, where she continued feeding Fowler before rolling an ankle late in the quarter and heading to the bench for treatment.
Teague-Neeld showed confidence to score mid-range goals before being interchanged for Sasha Glasgow mid-way through the quarter as Marinkovich looked to change the dynamic in the attacking circle.
The defensive intensity of Bruce, Stacey Francis-Bayman and Sunday Aryang continued despite Koenen matching Fowler goal-for-goal and Wood stepping up to score two Super-Shots as Lighting pushed ahead by six at three-quarter time 53-47.
Charles and Teague-Neeld both returned to the court in the fourth term but Lightning continued applying the pressure and increased their margin by nine in the opening five minutes of the quarter.
A trademark Bruce intercept brought the crowd into the contest and the intensity lifted as Fever reduced the margin to four with five minutes remaining.
Marinkovich sent Glasgow into GS to team up with Teague-Neeld from long-range and she scored two Super-Shots but Lightning continued fighting hard and maintained their momentum, running out 65-61 winners.
