Vixens out fox Fever to reach yet another decider
THE Melbourne Vixens are through to their third Grand Final in five years after a 73-72 goal win over the West Coast Fever in yesterday’s Suncorp Super Netball Preliminary Final.
In a match worthy of its title and a continuation of the rivalry these teams have built over the past few years, it was as emotion charged as it gets. The Fever narrowly lead by one at the first change, and at the second after both teams scored 19 goals in the second term.
The Vixens then came out firing in the third and took a five-goal lead into the final change, before a late Super Shot frenzy saw the Fever almost pinch the match at the death. However, one lone normal goal from the Vixens amongst the Fever flurry proved to be the ultimate difference.
Despite the narrow final margin, the Vixens had a decent amount more time in possession to the tune of eight more percent than the Fever.
However, the centre pass to goal rates (84 per cent to 81 per cent in favour of the Vixens) and the gain to goal rates (71 per cent to 70 per cent in favour of the Vixens) were almost dead even. The Fever won the intercepts and the gains, but ultimately were slightly less accurate than their hosts – recording two more misses than them – which ultimately cost them.
For the Vixens, Kiera Austin (25 feeds, 19 assists, 25 regular goals, four super shots) did a mountain of work both inside and outside the ring, complimenting the work of Hannah Mundy (36 feeds, 18 assists) and Kate Moloney (32 feeds, 16 assists).
Meanwhile for the Fever, Alice Teague-Neeld (28 feeds, 21 assists, two regular goals, three super shots) again had a big game, including a rare outing as a shooter in the last quarter. Kadie-Ann Dehaney also had a big game, recording five gains and four deflections, while Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard continued to put up the volume, but was a bit down on her usual level of accuracy after going for an unusually high number of super shots.
The win sees the Vixens move on to face the Thunderbirds in next weekend’s Grand Final, while for the Fever it is a case of déjà vu after bowing out of the finals at the exact same stage by the exact same margin for a second year in a row.
MELBOURNE VIXENS 18 | 19 | 20 | 16 (73)
WEST COAST FEVER 19 | 19 | 14 | 20 (72)
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