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The NSW Swifts have snapped their two-match losing streak with a 66-54 win against the West Coast Fever in netball’s trans-Tasman competition at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre tonight.
Coming off back-to-back losses against Australian rivals Melbourne Vixens and the Queensland Firebirds, the Swifts were at risk of losing touch with the top four, while the Fever were desperate to get their second win of the season.
The under-pressure Swifts didn’t find their groove until the third quarter where they jumped out to a seven goal lead, after being down by two at halftime, and extended their lead to 12 in the final quarter.
The Fever gave a much stronger performance than in recent weeks with tight first-half one-on-one defence troubling the Swifts and forcing uncharacteristic errors.
Fever shooter Caitlin Bassett nailed 16 goals in the second quarter to take Fever into halftime with a 28-26 lead forcing the Swifts to replace keeper Adelaide Johnson with taller teammate Emma Koster.
Koster, playing just her second game of the season, did well against the 192cm Bassett, and her combination with the experienced Rebecca Bulley kept the Fever shooters quiet in the second half where they scored just 16 goals to the Swifts’ 30.
Bassett top-scored with 49 goals for the game at 91 per cent accuracy.
Swifts shooter Susan Pratley, who scored 34 goals at 92 per cent, gave an exceptional performance under pressure from English defender Ama Agbeze.
Pratley, teamed with captain Catherine Cox (32/34) and assisted by Kimberlee Green and Vanessa Ware, outplayed the Fever in the goal third to allow the Swifts to run away with the game.
Tonight’s 12 goal win will see the Swifts move up the competition standings, after sliding from first to sixth in the last fortnight.
In other round seven matches Melbourne Vixens defeated Adelaide Thunderbirds 52-46, competition leaders Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic beat the Southern Steel 56-47 and Canterbury Tactix beat the Central Pulse 55-50.
Following back-to-back losses, captain Cox said while the Swifts weren’t panicking, they focused on getting the little things right this week at training.
“We totally went back to basics,” she said.
“Give it to someone that’s available. I think we’d been holding on to the ball and not giving it to the person that’s wide open and looking for someone better.
“And we all know you don’t find someone better. It’s that simple really.
“We fixed a lot of it tonight, which is great, but we weren’t too concerned because we’ve been holding it with the better teams in the competition.
“We weren’t getting beaten, we were losing games.”