It was a perfect day for the visiting Lightning, who broke their single game goal scoring record with 80 and secured all 8-points on offer.
The Fever will be incredibly disappointed in their performance, as they were keen to get revenge on the Lightning who beat them in last season’s Grand Final.
It didn’t look great from the beginning, as the Fever were wasteful early, turning the ball over in transition far too often and making bad decisions around the goal circle.
The Lightning made them pay for these mistakes every time, jumping out to an early lead midway through the first and taking a 21 to 15-goal buffer into the quarter time break.
Peace Proscovia was unstoppable against the Courtney Bruce-less Fever defence, scoring 17-goals in the first quarter on her way to 48-goals in just three quarters of play.
They continued to pile on the pressure, scoring 22-goals to 10 in the second quarter and completely silencing the home crowd as they went in to the main break 18-goals up.
It was a similar story for much of the second half, as the Lightning tore the Fever apart in all phases of the game, stretching their lead to 20-goals at three-quarter time.
The Fever struggled to slow down the Lightning all day, as Laura Scherian, Maddy McAuliffe and eventual Player of the Match Laura Langman punished the West Coast with their blistering speed, long passes and physicality.
The Lightning closed out the game by outscoring the Fever 20-goals to 15 in the final quarter.
Jhaniele Fowler was impressive again for the Fever with another 51-goal performance, but head coach Stacey Marinkovich will have to find a reliable second avenue to goal, as their attack became very predictable for the Lightning defenders to read.
The stranglehold put on Fowler by South African defensive duo Karla Pretorius and Phumza Maweni snuffed out any chance of the Fever making serious in-roads in to the deficit, keeping the Fever to just 55-goals for the game.
The winless Fever will travel to Sydney next Sunday to take on the NSW Swifts and the Sunshine Coast Lightning will come in to the first Queensland derby of 2019 full of confidence in Brisbane.
Score breakdown
Q1: Fever 15 v Lightning 21
Q2: Fever 10 v Lightning 22
Q3: Fever 15 v Lightning 17
Q4: Fever 15 v Lightning 20
Suncorp Super Netball Premiership Points
Fever – 0
Lightning – 8
Nissan Player of the Match
Sunshine Coast Lightning – Laura Langman
Fever shooting statistics
Jhaniele Fowler: 51/55 (92.7%)
Kaylia Stanton: 4/6 (66.7%)
Alice Teague-Neeld: 0/5 (0%)
Lightning shooting statistics
Peace Proscovia: 48/54 (88.9%)
Stephanie Wood: 18/20 (90%)
Cara Koenen: 14/17 (82.4%)
Fever starting seven:
GS – Jhaniele Fowler, GA – Alice Teague-Neeld, WA – Ingrid Colyer, C – Verity Charles, WD – Jessica Anstiss, GD – Shannon Eagland, GK – Stacey Francis
Lightning starting seven:
GS – Peace Proscovia, GA – Stephanie Wood, WA – Laura Scherian, C – Laura Langman, WD – Madeline McAuliffe, GD – Karla Pretorius, GK – Phumza Maweni
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