Fever Edged Out by Vixens

The West Coast Fever were unable to stop the Melbourne Vixens regaining top spot on the ANZ Championship ladder in last night’s 64-50 loss at Challenge Stadium.

Melbourne came into the match asfavourites, after defeating the Fever in all five previous meetings and looked to be in control midway through the first quarter.

Fever found their fighting spirit to level the match, but their consistent turnovers started to count against them, as the Vixens forged ahead.

The scoreline blew out in the second quarter as Natasha Chokljat, Renae Hallinan and Chelsey Nash dominated the midcourt, strangling the Fever as they attempted to move the ball down court.

WAIS athlete Susan Fuhrmann and Jo Curran fought gallantly in defence, but were unable to slow the pace of the Vixens charge.

By half-time, the visitors were out to a seven goal lead after Fever clawed back the deficit in the final minutes.

But again the Vixens found another gear in the third, and stepped up their defensive pressure. Julie Corletto and Bianca Chatfield worked well double teaming Fever goal shooter and WAIS scholarship holder Caitlin Bassett. Their physical presence was felt throughout the match as Bassett found the floor on a number of occasions, yet still managed 39 goals for the match.

Bassett combined well with new recruit Janelle Lawson in the third and fourth quarters, as Leah Shoard shifted to wing attack.

Caitlin Thwaites was the standout for the Vixens, with 44 goals at 85% in just over three quarters.

Fever coach Jane Searle wants her players to learn from the match and move on to next week.

“There were a lot of lessons learnt tonight, but most importantly, I need the girls to recognize the kind of game being played against us and how to effectively deal with those tactics.”

Fever travel to Hamilton on Thursday toplay the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic on Saturday 10th April in the opening game of Rivalry Round.

– Netball WA