THE NSW Swifts have held on in one of the clashes of the season to beat the Sunshine Coast Lightning 61 – 60.

It took until the final 10 seconds, but the Swifts held on to move into the top four and closer to the top two.

NSW was the far more dominant side in the first term, as they raced ahead to an early lead. The Lightning just could not score as the Swifts moved down court with relative ease.

Sunshine Coast only managed three goals in the first half of the quarter, but they did pick up the scoring in the back end of the term.

Although the lead got out to as much as seven goals during the term, the quarter time margin sat at two goals thanks to the Lightning’s late charge.

The second term was full of ebbs and flows.

It was the Lightning who went on a run first, but their good work was undone as the Swifts wrestled back momentum and stretched the lead back out to six.

Then the Lightning got on another run before the Swifts halted it at the back end of the term.

As the main break approached, the margin was five goals in favour of the visitors, but the Lightning were certainly not out of things yet.

Both teams made changes at half time in the hope that things would swing their way.

Early on in the third term, that did not seem to work for either side as they both traded blows for much of the opening part of the term.

Then, things started to build for the Lightning. They went on a bit of a run and slowly started to bridge the gap.

In a final frenetic minute of the term, they took the lead for the first time all game and went into the final change with a single goal lead. The crowd were on their feet and it felt like it could go either way in the final fifteen minutes.

The margin got out to six goals in the middle part of the final term, and it looked like the Swifts were going to run away with it.

But, the Lightning had other ideas.

They slowly worked away at the deficit, and once the power five hit Steph Wood in particular really found her range from long range and a couple of super shots later things were all level again.

The teams traded super shot blows and the match felt as though it could have gone either way.

Ultimately, it took until the final 10 seconds and one errant pass from the Lightning to see the Swifts sink one last shot to take the win and break Lightning hearts.

For the Swifts, Maddy Proud and Paige Hadley were again workhorses through the middle, while Helen Housby was consistently reliable.

Meanwhile for the Lightning, Wood was versatile and impressive, while Reilley Batcheldor was very accurate when she was on the court.

Next week sees the Swifts travelling to Melbourne to face the Vixens, while the Lightning are in Queensland again, but not at home as they travel to Brisbane to face the Firebirds.

SUNSHINE COAST LIGHTNING     12 | 12 | 19 | 17 (60)
NSW SWIFTS                                    14 | 15 | 13 | 19 (61)

STARTING SEVENS

Sunshine Coast Lightning

GS: Cara Koenen
GA: Steph Wood
WA: Laura Scherian
C: Mahalia Cassidy
WD: Maddie Hinchliffe
GD: Tara Hinchliffe
GK: Kadi-Ann Dehaney

NSW Swifts

GS: Helen Housby
GA: Kelly Singleton
WA: Paige Hadley
C: Maddy Proud
WD: Tayla Fraser
GD: Maddy Turner
GK: Sarah Klau