THE West Coast Fever remain undefeated in 2022 after defeating the Queensland Firebirds, and they gave shooter Sasha Glasgow a milestone match to remember.

The first quarter was quite the tale of two halves.

The Firebirds raced away to a good start and built a bit of a lead for themselves. Shooters Donnell Wallam and Gretel Bueta were on song, while down the other end Eboni Usoro-Brown kept Jhaniele Fowler quiet.

The Fever then worked their way into the game and brought the margin back and eventually eliminated the Firebirds’ lead. Courtney Bruce intercepted a lot of balls down in the defence, while up the other end Fowler and Glasgow were on song, able to navigate the Firebirds’ defensive tactics.

Fowler had super shot on the siren but was denied by the buzzer, so at quarter time the score was 18 goals apiece.
The evenness of the contest continued in the second period. It was goal for goal for much of the term, and even if a team got a little bit of a lead, their opposition reeled them back in.

The Fever made a few changes to their defensive end with just under six minutes left in the term, in the hope turning the tide more significantly.

It did not work, as the Firebirds ran away with things in the final five minutes. Their lead got out to as much as six goals. The Fever did reel them in a little bit but at the major break the margin was two in favour of the Firebirds.

The Fever made some more changes at half time, this time in their mid court, and it worked as they not only eliminated the Firebirds’ lead but got out to a bit of a lead themselves. Although the margin was about two for much of the term, it was out to seven in the dying minutes of the term as Glasgow was on song in the super shot zone.

As the teams turned for home the margin was seven in favour of the Fever.

It was goal for goal much of the last, but that meant the Firebirds just could not bridge the gap.

The Fever were just too strong in the end, Their defensive pressure was on fire while their shooters were accurate.

In the end they won by eight goals.

Player of the Match was the Fever captain Bruce, who had a very strong game in defence.

QUEENSLAND FIREBIRDS 18 | 18 | 14 | 19 (69)
WEST COAST FEVER 18 | 16 | 23 | 20 (77)

STARTING SEVENS:

QUEENSLAND FIREBIRDS:

GS: Donnell Wallam
GA: Gretel Bueta
WA: Lara Dunkley
C: Kim Ravaillion
WD: Gabi Simpson
GD: Ruby Bakewell-Doran
GK: Eboni Usoro-Brown

WEST COAST FEVER:

GS: Jhaniele Fowler
GA: Sasha Glasgow
WA: Emma Cosh
C: Jess Anstiss
WD: Stacey Francis-Bayman
GD: Sunday Aryang
GK: Courtney Bruce