Super Netball: Fever fires to send Vixens into sudden death turmoil, Swifts beat Firebirds

The Australian

5 days ago

The Melbourne Vixens have a massive task if they are to send coach Simone McKinnis out with a premiership after their 71-60 loss to minor premiers West Coast Fever handed them a trecherous finals run.
The Vixens headed into the last Super Netball match of the regular season with their place in the final four already secured.
But they needed to beat the Fever at their RAC Arena fortress to tie up third place and a home final.
The Thunderbirds secured their own place in the finals with a win over Sunshine Coast Lightning in their playoff showdown and their superior percentage meant anything but a Vixens win in Perth would hand hosting rights to Adelaide.
Vixens goal shooter Sophie Garbin passes in traffic. Picture: Getty Images
The teams went goal for goal in an opening quarter that promised a close clash but the Fever led by as much as seven points in the second before a pair of Kiera Austin super shots in the closing seconds clawed the margin back to four at halftime.
But a consistent Fever performance - their centre pass to goal conversion was 85 per cent for the match - gave them a lead of nine at the final break and the Vixens were unable to make inroads.
Down by 10 heading into the super shot period, even their talent from long range was no help, with Fever hero Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard rounding out an 11-point win with a rare super shot conversion.
Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard landed a rare super shot in the Fever's win. Picture: Getty Images
FEVER DESERVED FAVOURITES
The Fever head into the finals as deserved premiership favourites after winning their last 12 matches in succession to stamp themselves as the team to beat.
Shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard is in outstanding form and it will take a sublime defensive effort to starve her of ball and then to get an occasional win in the circle.
The Fever lost their first two games of the year but it's too easy to say it was just the absence of Fowler-Nembhard and her shooting skill that has been the difference.
It's the confidence the champion Jamaican gives the players around her - whether it's midcourters like Alice Teague-Neeld and Jordan Cransberg or defenders like Sunday Aryang, who finished with a massive six gains including four intercepts.
Sunday Aryang gets a pass away for the Fever. Picture: Getty Images
They head into next weekend's major semi-final against the NSW Swifts as massive favourites and with an average winning margin in Perth of 13 goals, it will be a mammoth task for the NSW Swifts to get over them to seal and grand final berth.
Technically it was a dead rubber for the Fever but Aryang said there was a real push to get the job done.
'Leading into this game we had a big focus on finishing the season off well and I think we accomplished what we set out to do,' she said.
'It's always hard coming up against Keira (Austin) she's one of those ones where you have to grind and play that hard one-on-one against her and hopefully get the best of it.
'It was definitely very hard for me but I'm happy with it.'
Fran Williams and Olivia Wilkinson share a moment after defeating the Vixens. Picture: Getty Images
VIXENS FACING SUDDEN DEATH
After falling just short in last year's premiership decider, the Vixens face a grand final rematch in Adelaide on Sunday afternoon, with the loser's year ending.
After a disastrous start to the year, the Vixens rediscovered their mojo in conjunction with McKinnis's announcement she would stand down at the end of the year and would love to send the veteran mentor out with a third premiership.
While they did not secure the home final they would have loved, they get the chance to atone for last year's premiership loss in the same venue in what should be a classic match.
Sophie Garbin takes possesssion for the Vixens. Picture: Getty Images
While they did not beat the Fever, they showed enough to suggest they remain in the hunt, especially if Kiera Austin can be on song and their defenders can blunt resurgent T-Birds goaler Romelda Aiken-George.
Certainly after the early season signs that they would fall out of finals contention altogether, the Vixens have nothing to lose.
Super Netball finals
Week one
Sunday (All times AEST)
Minor semi-final: Thunderbirds v Vixens
Adelaide Entertainment Centre, 2pm
Major semi-final: Fever v Swifts
RAC Arena, Perth, 4pm
SWIFTS' EXTRA TIME SHOCK
The NSW Swifts will head into the finals on the back of a win but it was hardly the confidence-boosting victory they wanted ahead of the playoffs, needing extra time to get over the top of the Queensland Firebirds 79-75.
The Swifts could not be beaten out of second place heading into Sunday's clash against the Firebirds on Sunday but having
Briony Akle's side had lost four of their past five games heading into Sunday's clash and were desperate to get their premiership quest back on track.
But they had to do it the hard way, needing extra time to get over the top of the competition wooden spooners, who sent the first game of the season to extra time.
Unable to lift themselves from the bottom of the ladder regardless of the result, the Firebirds were desperate to break a record run of 11 consecutive losses.
Sharni Lambden looks for a Swifts teammate. Picture: Getty Images
They seemed set for more of the same after going down by five in the opening term but won the next three terms - by one, three and one point respectively - to level the game and force extra time.
Ultimately though, the unforced errors that have blighted the Firebirds' season came back to haunt them.
A missed simple shot from debutant Elsa Sif Sandholt - surprisingly injected into extra time for Mary Cholhok - and a poor pass and that turned over ball in their final attack told the tale of the year.
Coach Kiri Wills said injecting Sandholt into extra time was a decision she stood by and she and her players had already got around the youngster.
Mary Cholhok fired for the Firebirds, who forced extra with the Swifts. Picture: Getty Images
'I just wanted to reiterate to her that I put her out there because I've got a lot of faith in her, and I'd do it again,' Wills said.
'There were errors at the end of the game, but that could have been done by other people on the court as well.
'So I'm happy with my change. Elsa's probably not quite as happy as you would want to be after a debut - it's pretty tough putting a debutant out there under that kind of pressure, but this is this is why we train, and this is what we're here for.'
It was a gallant effort from the home side though and one that will give them confidence they can move on from a poor year.
Swifts goal attack Helen Housby gets a pass away under pressure. Picture: Getty Images
SWIFTS CONFIDENT DESPITE GRIND
Like the Firebirds, the Swifts were undermanned, with experienced co-captain Paige Hadley (lower leg injury), and defender Teigan O'Shannassy, who will miss the remainder of the season with a back injury on the sidelines.
Hadley did travel to Brisbane and helped warm the shooters up, so is not incapacitated but coach Briony Akle will want her available in the finals as the Swifts push for a third Super Netball title.
Without her, the midcourt has been disjoined in recent weeks, with the NSW side struggling to have options to help the ball down the court.
But in a grafting win against the Firebirds, they were forced to find a way in an effort that could be a bonus for their finals campaign.
Swifts goal shooter Grace Nweke hit 59 of her 66 shots at goal. Picture: Getty Images
They head west next weekend, where they will face minor premiers West Coast Fever and have nothing to lose in a game in which the winners will claim a grand final place.
But that doesn't daunt Akle or import shooter Helen Housby.
'I feel like as a group, we have definitely gone away and been to the bottom of bottom in terms of our feelings, our highs and lows, and at the end of the day, we were always in second spot,' Akle said.
'So after a few losses, you feel like you know the world's going to end, and the momentum is not with you, but I feel like it's only going to help us moving forward, that we've had the lows, and we're slowly improving and improving at the right time coming into finals.'
FIREBIRDS LOOKING AHEAD
Round 14 has been one of mass changes across the league, with players making their debuts and others getting their chance off the bench.
And with contracts on the line, there's plenty to prove. The Firebirds had two potential debutants in Danielle Taylor, in for injured co-captain Hulita Veve and Elsa Sif Sandholt, who was on the bench for Abi Latu-Meafou.
Emily Moore takes a shot at goal despite plenty of pressure. Picture: Getty Images
And the Icelandic-born shooter Sandholt became Firebird no.117 just minutes before halftime when she was injected into the game.
Taylor then earnt her own number, becoming no.118 when she came on for Allison late in the third term after the England midcourter left the game.
Where the Firebirds go from here is now the question for coach Kiri Wills and Firebirds staff, who have several big decisions to make on the futures of stalwarts, needing to change if they are to forge ahead next year.
But somehow, their fans have not lost faith. They played in front of a sellout crowd of 4776 on Sunday, taking their season tally to a Nissan Arena record of 31,886 for the season.