AFTER a difficult start to the season, the West Coast Fever claimed a season-defining win over the Adelaide Thunderbirds prevailing by one goal, 53-52. It was a hot contest with both sides jostling hard to secure the four points but in the end after weeks of close calls the Fever just did enough to hold off the Thunderbirds.

Adelaide had it all their way in the opening term with their clever ball placement and dynamic movement creating space across the court. The combination between experienced shooter Maria Folau and Sasha Glasgow was exciting to watch with the two taking it in turns to pile on scoreboard pressure. Glasgow was accurate to post and showcased her range scoring nine goals from 10 attempts while her body positioning under the ring allowed her to gather strong rebounds making her a real threat in the goal circle for the Thunderbirds. With the attack end piling on plenty of scoreboard pressure, defensively the Thunderbirds were on song with Shamera Sterling showcasing her trademark intercepting ability with two intercepts, three gains and one deflection. She worked overtime on Jamaican powerhouse goal shooter and Fever go-to girl Jhaniele Fowler limiting her to six goals for the term. Thunderbirds goal defence, Layla Guscoth also played her role nullifying the influence of Kaylia Stanton tagging her out of the game, blocking her entrance into goals and applying good hands over pressure to restrict her vision. Credit to their hard work in defence and ability to treasure the ball in attack, Adelaide jumped out to an early nine-goal lead to set them up for the rest of the match.

It took a while for the connections in defence to click for the West Coast Fever with Shannon Eagland getting the nod at goal defence pushing former England international, Stacey Francis out to wing defence while captain Courtney Bruce retained her goal keeper position. The defensive trio gelled more in the second term with Bruce out hunting any and every cross-court ball with two gains and two deflections meanwhile Eagland highlighted her read of the play picking up an intercept. Struggling to fire in attack, Fever coach Stacey Marinkovich brought goal attack Alice Teague-Neeld on who had an immediate impact with her vision and feeds into the circle with 11 goal assists. Teague-Neeld’s placement into the circle really brought Fowler into the game with the 196cm shooter scoring 17 goals straight bringing the game back onto a more even playing field. With the Fever controlling the tempo of the game, Thunderbirds wing attack Chelsea Pitman utilized her experience and patience to work her way through the defence and hit the circle edge with precision to feed into the shooters with five goal assists and seven centre pass receives.

Only up by two goals the third term was neck and neck with both sides scoring four goals apiece and putting their bodies on the line. After a big collision with Fowler, Thunderbirds keeper left the court in discomfort forcing Kate Shimmin to pull on the goal keeper bib for the remaining minutes of the third quarter. Sterling was not the only injury scare this time Fever were dealt a worrying blow with shooting machine Fowler suffering a knee injury midway through the term. The goal shooter received some strapping but continued her hot form under the post with Verity Charles and Ingrid Colyer finding good feeding space in the attacking third. Colyer had the ball on a string with seven feeds, six centre pass receives and showed her handy work in defence with one gain and one intercept. Bruce also lifted her intensity limiting the impact of Glasgow picking up three gains and one intercept. Folau shouldered the load in attack for the Thunderbirds in the third term with the goal attack nailing 11 goals straight to keep them in the hunt. Kelly Altmann also worked tirelessly through both attack and defence with two important pick-ups and clever delivery into the circle with four goal assists. Though the transition down the court for both teams was messy at times with errant passes allowing for turnovers the Thunderbirds sustained their two goal lead.

With the Fever looking for a spark through the midcourt Jess Anstiss made her way from the bench into centre and injected some more defensive pressure with a timely deflection. Thunderbirds wing defence Shadine van de Merwe struggled to leave her impact on the game but did a wealth of work to slow down the transition down the court and applied good hands over pressure. With the game hanging in the balance it was the composure and accuracy to post that proved to be the difference with both Fowler and Teague-Neeld capitalising on their opportunities under the post sitting at 100 per cent compared to Folau and Glasgow who missed four shots in the last term.

STARTING LINE-UPS:

West Coast Fever:

GS | Jhaniele Fowler
GA | Kaylia Stanton
WA | Verity Charles
C | Jess Anstiss
WD | Stacey Francis
GD | Shannon Eagland
GK | Courtney Bruce

Adelaide Thunderbirds:

GS | Sasha Glasgow
GA | Maria Folau
WA | Chelsea Pitman
C | Hannah Petty
WD | Shadine van de Merwe
GD | Layla Guscoth
GK | Shamera Sterling