Fever Finish Season With Close Loss

Published On: 7 July 2009

Bassett finished the season as the second highest goal scorer in the competition

The West Coast Fever, including a host of WAIS athletes, have finished their sophmore season in 7th place with a 5-8 record after going down to the Queensland Firebirds in their final match of the season on Monday night.

WAIS scholarship holders Caitlin Bassett, Shae Bolton, Madison Browne, Susan Fuhrmann, Andrea Gilmore, Josie Janz and Jasmine Keene finished their 2009 ANZ Championship campaigns after a 52-54 loss capped a much improved season in the second edition of the Trans-Tasman competition.

Despite the Fever’s best efforts in front of a sell out crowd at Challenge Stadium, Queensland led at every change, with the home side clawing the margin back to two goals at the final hooter. The Fever’s never say die attitude couldn’t deliver them a sixth victory for the season but it did manage to deny the Firebirds a berth in the competition’s semi-finals, with their Australian counterparts missing out on goal difference due to the close margin.

Fever coach Jane Searle said despite the loss the effort displayed in final match of the season augurs well for the future.

“Tonight was a great match, it’s great as a coach to see all our players go out there as a team and show real team spirit and determination,” she said.

“It’s disappointing that we finished seventh on the Championship ladder but the team has had a fantastic season and played some outstanding netball. With the season now over, everyone will go under review and we will see what we need to do for next season to keep improving.”

Bassett finished the regular season as the second highest goal scorer in the competition with 496 goals at 83.9% accuracy in her 13 matches.