In the space of two minutes in the first half she wielded a wicked mix of athleticism, daring, skill and intellect that fired a jolt through West Coast Fever and one of the best players on the planet.
The defender sized up her Jamaican teammate, Jhaniele Fowler, whipped around behind the 198cm goal shooter and sprang high into the air to flick a ball out of the Fever star’s grasp and into her own.
Moments later she pinched another pass from Fowler, this time from in front.
Without conceding a penalty.
“She has great footwork. Your placement’s got to be good and we needed to execute that better,” Fever coach Stacey Marinkovich lamented.
“But she definitely did a great job of creating an illusion of space.”
Marinkovich’s headaches – serious injuries to captain Courtney Bruce and Fowler – rocked the competition in the final match of the opening round and the Fever’s fortunes will hang on their availability.
Caitlin Thwaites’s brilliant return to the Melbourne Vixens was another talking point.
But as for highlights, it was difficult to ignore the feats of Sterling and the defenders across the other seven clubs.
Last year’s exit of guns Laura Geitz, Sharni Layton and Bec Bulley had the potential to undermine depth in the back court.
International recruitment and Australia’s development pathways have tossed up some mind-blowing defenders to keep the competition’s fancy attackers in check.
Sterling’s 10 gains, five intercepts, 11 deflections and three rebounds came against a player who has dominated Super Netball.
She and her co-conspirator Layla Guscoth were stunning to watch as Adelaide ended its 27-game losing streak.
Vixen Emily Mannix will have bruises from Saturday’s win against the Queensland Firebirds but the satisfaction was hers after star shooter Romelda Aiken spent the last eight minutes on the bench.
The quality of the Vixens’ defence no doubt contributed to an outburst of frustration from Gretel Tippett directed towards one of her Firebirds teammates.
NSW Swifts defenders Maddy Turner and Sarah Klau had mighty games in their club’s upset against the Giants.
Karla Pretorius was a ball-winning panther for the Sunshine Coast Lightning and in a beaten Fever outfit Bruce was inspiring.
The Diamonds defender faces some time off with injury but her teammates had to be stirred by the sight of their captain bravely returning from injury treatment to chase deflections with her one good hand.
The quality of defence across the board was high and, according to Marinkovich, the better teams used those gains wisely.
“It’s bloody hard for defenders, facing such high executing attacking teams,” she said.
“The amount of goals scored this weekend shows the momentum teams are creating so when you have the ball you’ve really got to treasure it.”
As fortune would have it, Layton watched much of the defensive action from her new spot in commentary.
She, Geitz and Bulley would have been proud.
