The home side had to overcome a six point deficit and an injury scare to key player Jo Weston to seal the win, and it was only in the shadows of fulltime that the Vixens were finally able to haul themselves past a gallant Swifts outfit.
It was an intense battle, with both sides shooting almost flawlessly and a scoreline that see-sawed throughout.
Despite her heroics last week against the Firebirds, Sophie Garbin started this match on the bench for the Swifts with Sam Wallace chosen to start at goal attack in an unchanged starting roster. The Vixens also ran with the same starting seven that won the match against Collingwood in Round 1.
The Swifts opened proceedings with three goals, but that was followed by a 9-3 run from the Vixens. The prompted an early timeout from the Swifts to ensure that the scoreline didn’t blow out even further.
The Vixens were starting to settle in and command the ball, but suffered an early blow with Diamonds defender Weston collecting an ankle injury that forced her from the court.
That didn’t disrupt their flow though, with the Vixens taking a 17-12 lead into the first break.
The Swifts had been shooting flawlessly, but struggled to gain possession. That changed in the second quarter as the visitors grafted their way back into the match and cut the margin to just three goals.
That was enough for Vixens coach Simone McKinnis to make wholesale changes to her roster, but that created further disruptions and the Swifts streaked ahead to take a 32-31 lead into halftime.
The Swifts went into the second half unchanged, keeping their rising star and strike weapon Garbin on the bench.
Liz Watson from the Vixens collided heavily with the Swifts’ Paige Hadley but recovered to pull off a crucial intercept that stopped the Swifts from skipping clear.
Highlighting the bravery of home side, Weston returned to the court after receiving treatment. That fight filtered through the whole squad, as the Vixens won a bonus point for the quarter and stole a 48-47 lead heading into the final term.
The goal-for-goal battle continued as the Swifts pinched the lead right back, but the Vixens were breathing down their necks for most of the final quarter.
With five minutes to play, the Vixens levelled the scores up – prompting a Swifts time out. Immediately afterwards, Melbourne stole the lead again.
The home side pushed that out to three goals – a lead the visitors could not reel in.
