Swifts Overcome Fever in Season Opener
The West Coast Fever suffered a 14 goal (55-41) defeat in its season opening ANZ Championship fixture with the NSW Swifts in Sydney on Monday night.
Fever nailed the first goal within 30 seconds of the start but the Swifts asserted a mountain of defensive pressure and went on an eight-goal run to gain the early ascendency. Early shooting opportunities were lost, while Pratley and Dziwoki took the most of theirs to reward the work being done further up the court.
With Susan Pratley and Carla Dziwoki combining to shoot 19 goals from 23 attempts, the Swifts opened up a 19-8 lead at the first change. Cath Cox converted five of her six attempts while Caitlin Bassett struggled to get into the action with immense Mkoloma pressure,and after making three of her five attempts she was replaced by Kate Beveridge in the second quarter.
The Swifts movement and pressure caused the Fever to be tentative, which wasn’t helped when wing defence Andrea Gilmore had to be replaced early in the second quarter after injuring her left ankle.The injury forced Fever coach Norma Plummer to move Ashleigh Brazill (WAIS) from centre to wing defence, Shae Bolton (WAIS) from wing attack to centre and introduceVerity Simmons (WAIS) on to wing attack. This change made a positive impact to the match, with an injection of speed and flare from the young Fever mid-court.
The lead broke out to 15 halfway through the quarter but an unanswered four-goal run by the Fever helped peg thescore back to 11 by half-time.
Plummer limited the changes to start the second half, moving Cox to goal shooter and Beveridge (WAIS) out to goal attack, but it didn’t curb the intensity of the Swifts who used the ball more efficiently and led by as many as 16 in the third quarter before taking a 15-goal lead into the final change.
Thirty one-year-old Lisa Millman was brought in by Plummer to make her ANZ Championship debut to start the fourth quarter at goal attack, replacing Beveridge who couldn’t convert from three attempts in the third term. The hard-running defensive work of Brazill gave the Fever some resilience and they brought the margin back to 11 but the Swifts were just too polished and maintained control until the final whistle.
The match finished 55 – 41 to Swifts with some positives to be taken away for both teams.
Fever’s opportunity for redemption will come next Sunday as they host the Northern Mystics for their first home game of the season at Challenge Stadium. Memberships for the season, and tickets for the match are still available – visit www.westcoastfever.com.au.
– Netball WA