Fever Too Strong for Mystics
West Coast Fever survived their first defence of the Challenge Trophy with a comprehensive 67-51 win over the Mystics in Perth last Sunday.
In a new initiative this year, Fever became the first team in the ANZ Championship to hold the new Challenge Trophy after being named the inaugural holders through an earlier ballot draw.
The holder defends the Challenge Trophy in their home matches and, on first evidence, teams will be hard-pressed to wrest it off a rejuvenated Fever.
The team from the West showed their first-up away win last week was no fluke when producing a compelling second outing back on their home court against the highly-fancied Mystics.
Relentless from the outset, the Fever pushed throughout as they forced the Mystics to play off the back foot in completing an encouraging and impressive result.
The towering figure of Caitlin Bassett (WAIS) provided the bulk of the Fever’s high-scoring return with a personal haul of 51 goals, but the team boasted effective and willing participants across all areas.
The Fever picked up from where they left off after last week’s opening round win as they got underway in composed and accurate fashion. Showing a patience and confidence not seen in previous seasons, Fever was out of the blocks quickly in building a five-goal buffer.
With her teammates finding an easy passage through court, Bassett benefited with a seamless service while Fever’s defensive line slowed the Mystic’s progress on attack.
Paula Griffin, who got the nod ahead of Cathrine Latu in the goal shoot role, injected some impetus for the visitors when nailing a succession of ball that came her way while exciting defender Temalisi Fakahokotau picked off some vital turnover ball as the Mystics deftly closed the gap to one.
Plenty of quality end-to-end play ensued, the Fever holding their nerve to keep Mystics at bay and taking a slender 14-13 lead into the first break.
Fever continued to show their improved consistency on the resumption, again pulling out to a four-goal lead. But in a repeat of the first quarter, the Mystics responded with a flourish to level the scores within the opening five minutes.
Both teams executed strong through-court defensive pressure and it was the Fever’s sustained efforts that eventually cracked the Mystic’s accuracy.
Passing errors under pressure created turnovers and the constant attention of defenders Josie Janz-Dawson (WAIS) and April Letton resulted in missed goals from the Mystics, helping the Fever steal a march during the second quarter.
With danger woman Bassett slotting a flurry of goals and converting 25 attempts during the half, Fever bounded out to a comfortable 31-22 lead at the main break.
WAIS athlete and club captain Ashleigh Brazill (wing defence) and centre Shae Brown (WAIS) switched positions for the second half for the home team while Silver Fern Latu made her entrance for the Mystics.
It was the Fever who went on to make the most emphatic of statements in outplaying their opponents and doubling their half-time lead with a dominant performance.
In a desperate move, Mystics made wholesale changes during the third stanza with four positional or personnel swaps which had little effect on the Fever’s impetus.
Growing in stature, the home team made every post a winner to over-run the error-laden Mystics to record their second win of the season.
-ANZChampionship