By Matt Fotia
The West Coast Fever have booked a date with the Melbourne Vixens in next weekends Preliminary Final thanks to a 72-62 win over the Sunshine Coast Lightning in today’s Minor Semi Final at RAC Arena.
The Fever withstood a number of Lightning challenges on their way to victory but were just too ruthless for their Sunshine Coast counterparts.
Superstar goal shooter, and birthday girl, Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard led the way with 67 goals, while Kadie-Ann Dehaney and Sunday Aryang played key roles in defence for the 2022 champions.
It was a nervous start to the do-or-die encounter with the two sides trading early turnovers, before both attacking leaders took control to settle their teams into a rhythm.
Fowler-Nembhard scored all 16 of the Fever’s goals in the first quarter, while Steph Fretwell did the heavy lifting early for her side as Cara Koenen struggled to get into the game thanks to the physical defence of former teammate Kadie-Ann Dehaney and close checking of England international Fran Williams.
Koenen, who finished the quarter strongly with eight goals from eight attempts, and the rest of her Lightning teammates grew into the game, winning ball through the likes of Ashleigh Ervin, who was brought on to quell the influence of Fowler-Nembhard, Leesa Mi Mi, and Mahalia Cassidy.
Cassidy in particular pulled off back-to-back intercepts in the last 20 seconds of the first quarter to set up a last second Batcheldor super shot to give the visitors a two-goal advantage at the first break.
Batcheldor was a threat from long range
Fever coach Dan Ryan swung the changes at quarter time, moving Sunday Aryang back into goal defence and Jess Anstiss into wing defence in an attempt to limit the impact of Fretwell and Diamonds captain Liz Watson.
The move had success early with Aryang picking up some handy deflections before the Lightning regained mid court dominance.
Mi Mi was showing no signs of being overawed in her first ever SSN final, Mahalia Cassidy was becoming a real nuisance and the speed of ball from Watson, Fretwell and Koenen was beginning to give the Fever headaches.
At the other end of the court the reliance on Fowler-Nembhard was lessened slightly as Shanice Beckford netted her first goal of the match midway through the second quarter and began to give the Lightning circle defenders something else to think about.
The diminutive goal attack later scored the Fever’s first super shot of the match, thanks to some strong work under the post from Fowler-Nembhard, to bring the hosts level, before a frantic end-to-end play in the final seconds of the half allowed Fowler-Nembhard to score her 32nd goal and put the hosts ahead by one at the main break.
The Fever came into the game having won 11 of a possible 14 third quarters this season and played the opening stages of the third period accordingly.
They capitalised on some sloppy Lightning errors to open up a six-goal lead early in the third before the Lightning steadied with a three-goal run of their own.
Both defences were getting on top with Aryang and Bruce in particular trading intercepts, but it was the Fever’s ability to both create turnovers and also mop up the mess of their offence that helped them gain ascendancy.
One moment in particular stood out.
After Beckford chose to pass rather than shoot after a penalty, Ervin managed to get the deflection before Bruce beat Fowler-Nembhard to the loose ball.
But before Lightning fans could celebrate the work of their two circle defenders the Fever had regained possession and surged on to a seven goal three quarter time lead, despite a pair of late Batcheldor super shots.
The Lightning threatened fleetingly in the last quarter to pull off a miracle comeback but were unable to get the margin under seven goals, with their lack of efficiency under the post a major factor.
This was laid bare five minutes into the final quarter. The Lightning had a chance to create a three-goal swing when Cara Koenen missed back-to-back shots from under the post. Aryang gathered the rebound and sent the ball up court where it found its way to Fowler-Nembhard who duly converted.
Aryang was impressive in goal defence.
The Jamaican superstar finished the game with a 100% record from one point range and in total the Fever missed just five shots for the match. The Lightning on the other hand missed 23, albeit they were chasing super shots late in the game.
Reilley Batcheldor did her best to bring the margin back with two more super shots, but it was a bridge too far for a Lightning outfit who had won just six games for the season.
