THE Queensland Firebirds have caused one of the upsets of the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) season, downing the West Coast Fever by four goals, 72-68 and jumping to third on the ladder in the process.

It was a tight game all night, but the Firebirds held strong late to take the crucial win. It did not even take five minutes into the first term for the Fever to establish a lead. They were creating confusion defensively, which was allowing them to creating attacking play and capitalise on the scoreboard. Their lead got out to as much as five goals before the Firebirds really bridged the gap. The Fever then re-established their lead and at quarter time the margin sat at three in their favour.

Queensland kept pace with the hosts for much of the opening plays of the second quarter, even bringing the lead down slightly, but they just could not fully bridge the gap. Then as the middle of the quarter came the Fever began to re-establish control, but then as the quarter progressed the Firebirds started to make life difficult for their hosts. The Firebirds started to claw their way back, and as the teams went into half-time the margin was all square.

The third quarter was a real arm-wrestle. The teams traded blows all quarter and no one could establish a lead. It took until the final three minutes of the quarter for either side to establish a lead, which was the Fever. The Fever’s lead got out to three, then pegged back to one but a Mia Stower super shot on the siren meant that the teams were even again at the final break.

Heading into the last quarter, it really was not clear who was going to take out the match. The Firebirds had a good opening few minutes, and had built themselves a four goal lead within three minutes. The Fever are a top side for a reason though, and were certainly not going to let themselves be behind for long.

They brought it back to one at the beginning of the power five, but the Firebirds really began to lift in the power five, sniffing potential of an upset. They held strong and stopped the Fever scoring, and earned themselves a four-goal win while they were at it.

For the Firebirds, Gretel Bueta did a mountain of work out at goal attack. She also only missing one shot for the entire game. Kim Ravaillion was also a workhorse in centre, finishing with 40 feeds and 18 goal assists.

Meanwhile for the Fever, Jhaniele Fowler had another solid game, shooting the bulk of the Fever goals and at 100 per cent yet again, but errant passing further up the court did not help her or her team’s cause.

Next week sees the Fever away in Sydney to face the Swifts, while the Firebirds are back home to face the GIANTS.

WEST COAST FEVER  18 | 15 | 20 | 15 (68)
QUEENSLAND FIREBIRDS 15 | 18 | 20 | 19 (72)

STARTING SEVENS:

West Coast Fever:

GS: Jhaniele Fowler
GA: Sasha Glasgow
WA: Alice Teague-Neeld
C: Zoe Cransberg
WD: Stacey Francis-Bayman
GD: Sunday Aryang
GK: Courtney Bruce

Queensland Firebirds:

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