Fever destroy Swifts to secure netball grand final spot

Yahoo

9 hours ago

West Coast Fever have secured a grand final berth and destroyed the confidence of the NSW Swifts in the process after posting a dominant 77-45 win in the major semi-final at RAC Arena.
In a performance for the ages, West Coast led 46-20 at half-time and 60-28 late in the third quarter as the Swifts imploded in front of a bustling Green Army crowd of 11,838 in Perth.
Sunday's result means the second-placed Swifts will now need to dust themselves off for next week's home preliminary final against the Melbourne Vixens, who defeated two-time defending champions Adelaide 58-56 in the minor semi-final earlier in the day.
The ladder-leading Fever will enjoy a week off before featuring in the August 2 grand final at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena.
Star Fever goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard finished with 65 goals from 66 attempts to go with one Super Shot, while goalkeeper Sunday Aryang was huge with seven gains and two intercepts.
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Swifts goal shooter Grace Nweke endured a shocker, hitting just 23 goals from 28 attempts while committing a whopping nine turnovers.
The Fever's rise to the grand final is remarkable given they were 0-2 and bottom of the ladder before Fowler-Nembhard's return sparked a run of 13 straight wins - a Super Netball record.
"I'm just really proud of the team," Fever coach Dan Ryan told Fox Sports.
"Their performance across the 60 minutes was amazing.
"To play that quality of netball under the pressure of semi-finals is just amazing."
NSW opened the season with a perfect 8-0 record but limped into the finals with four losses from their last six games.
With no Paige Hadley (foot) or Teigan O'Shannassy (back), the Swifts were simply no match for the Fever.
Fowler-Nembhard was a dominant force in the opening quarter, nailing 20 goals to give the Fever a 20-11 lead at the first break.
At the other end, Nweke was struggling.
The star NZ shooter committed a whopping five turnovers to go with three penalties in the opening term.
In a further blow for the Swifts, centre Verity Simmons rolled her ankle late in the quarter and had to go off for treatment.
Nweke's nightmare continued early in the second term when she missed two easy shots in the space of a few minutes.
By the time Simmons was able to re-enter play with eight minutes remaining in the half, the Fever already led 31-17.
Nweke was benched in favour of Sophie Fawns as the Swifts desperately searched for answers.
West Coast scored the last 12 goals of the second quarter to enter the long break with a 26-goal lead, meaning the second half was effectively junk time.
The final margin - 32 goals - was the largest in a Super Netball semi-final.