By Matt Fotia
The West Coast Fever’s leaders stood up when it mattered most in Sunday’s crucial one goal win over the Melbourne Vixens.
The win pulled the Fever level on points with the Vixens on the ladder and has given them a chance to finish in the top two at seasons end.
Experienced Fever stars Jess Anstiss, Alice Teague-Neeld and Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard played a massive role in the win.
Anstiss finished the game with an intercept, a deflection, and a gain to go with her 10 assists, Teague-Neeld was a constant threat with ball in hand, providing 25 assists, while Fowler-Nembhard was almost faultless, shooting 60 goals from 61 attempts, once again carrying the bulk of the Fever’s scoring load.
“Jess, Alice and Jhaniele were simply awesome for us today, in all parts of the game,” Fever Coach Dan Ryan said.
“When we were struggling, and they were coming back at us they still continued to do their role for the team.
“Reliability is so important in our captains, and they really showed up for us today.”
Fowler-Nembhard was at her ruthless best against the Vixens.The game, which served as a finals appetiser, ebbed and flowed throughout, with neither side able to push the margin out past four goals in the second half.
Ryan cited his side’s ability to nail the little things as a deciding factor.
“The things that were key for me were the things we were consistently getting beaten at,” he said.
“Rebounds, staying in play, those little basic one percenters were where I thought we really started to put them under the pump in the last quarter.
“They were the moments we were doing the best of those basics.”
Once again, the Fever more or less ignored the super shot across the course of the game, attempting just three two-point attempts, converting one. In comparison the Vixens shot 15 times from two-point range, with eight successful.
The Fever are ranked 7th for super shots scored and attempted this season, with only the Thunderbirds below them, and also rank 7th for conversion, shooting at 48.7%.
Ryan says their big focus during the Power Five is on centre pass conversion.
“The biggest thing for us is you’ve got to keep scoring your centre passes,” he said.
“If you’re not scoring your centre passes, you’re just creating more opportunities for the opposition to get hot hands.
“That’s a real focus for us, irrespective of whether we are taking a one or a two, our focus is to ensure we get good transition from one point netball into two and keep our centre pass conversion ticking over.”
The Fever finish the home and away season with a home game against the 5th placed Mavericks, who will need to win to have any hope of making the finals.
“We got into it knowing the Mavericks will be playing for their life,” Ryan said.
“They’ll be fighting desperately to try and get fourth spot, so we need to be really prepared.
“It’s going to be a really tough, physical, disjointed game potentially with the style they play.
“We need to be up for all of that.”
