Fever Show Steel Resolve
The West Coast Fever has scored its second win of the year, upsetting Kiwi rivals the Southern Steel 50-47 in a nail-biter at Challenge Stadium. The win keeps the Steel without a win on Australian soil.
On the back of two heavy losses, the Fever headed into the match with a surprise line-up, with coach Jane Searle keeping both WAIS scholarship holder Susan Fuhrmann and captain Johannah Curran on the bench. It gave another WAIS athlete Josie Janz and Ama Agbeze a start in the Fever defensive circle, while the Fever attacking line remained unchanged.
Both sides had a shaky start to the match, with early turnovers, before it was the Steel who broke away. Five straight goals saw the Fever call a time-out to stem the run, with the Steel taking ten scoring shots to just four for the Fever. But the break gave the home side time to regroup, and an Andrea Gilmore (WAIS) midcourt intercept started the goals flowing.
WAIS shooter Caitlin Bassett backed her shooting ability from long range, nailing four straight, as the Fever started to press. At quarter time, the Fever had 100% scoring accuracy but trailed 15-12.
The Steel started the second quarter strongly, again pulling away to lead by seven goals, before the Fever started to rally. Steel defender Sheryl Scanlan called a time-out, before being replaced, but it failed to halt the Fever momentum. With the crowd behind them, the Fever scored eight straight goals to give the Fever the lead late in the quarter, and they headed into the main break with a three goal lead 29-26.
The third quarter was played at pace with both sides eager to feed the ball through to their tall shooters. Steel’s new recruit Jodi Brown was brought on to goal attack, while co-captain Wendy Frew replaced former Australian centre Natasha Chokljat. Fever coach Jane Searle kept her starting line-up to start the third, but introduced fan favourite Susan Fuhrmann into the match midway through the quarter sparking the crowd into life.
The Fever was able to withstand the Steel challenge to head into the final break with a two goal lead 40-38.
The Steel came out firing in the final quarter, levelling scores at the four minute mark before reclaiming the lead minutes later. The high intensity match was well supported by the crowd, who continued to will the Fever home, but it was the Steel who found momentum. The reintroduction of
Natasha Chokljat sparked the visitors, as the nerves started to show for the Fever. The Steel drew level with 90 seconds to play, but Fever centre Shae Bolton (WAIS) was inspirational in the dying seconds, collecting two deflections that resulted in Bassett goals, setting up the well-earned win for the Fever. Bassett finished the match with 39 goals at 95% accuracy.
A late goal in the dying seconds of the quarter pushed the final score out 50-47.
Fever coach Jane Searle was delighted with the win.
“It was a great game and we are excited by the win. Everyone was eager to get out there, which is fantastic for us. Full credit to the girls, they really put in a solid 60 minute effort today.”
The Fever will remain in Perth before taking on another New Zealand side the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic in Rivalry Round next Monday.
– Netball Australia