Sunshine Girl Fowler gets better of T&T counterpart in Fever win

PERTH, Australia (CMC) — Jhaniele Fowler kept up her insatiable appetite for scoring as West Coast Fever maintained their dominant start to the new Australian Super Netball Championship with a 63-55 victory over Trinidadian Samantha Wallace’s New South Wales Swifts here last weekend.

Playing at the RAC Arena, the 31-yearold Sunshine Girl pumped in 54 goals from 59 attempts, a performance which helped Fever overcome a two-goal deficit at half-time with a stellar second-half effort.

Wallace was also pivotal for Swifts, netting 33 from 35 goals but could not prevent her side from suffering their first defeat of the season, following their narrow win over Queensland Firebirds last week.

Sophie Garbin supported with a perfect nine-from-nine, while Helen Housby finished with nine from 11 attempts.

Swifts had the early momentum, rushing to a 17-13 lead at the end of the first quarter before marching to a 28-26 half-time advantage.

Fever hit back in the second half, however, outscoring Swifts 18-15 to lead 44-43 at the start of the final quarter, and set the stage for their eventual victory.

At Nissan Arena in Brisbane, Romelda Aiken got the better of fellow Jamaican Shamera Sterling as Queensland Firebirds rebounded from their heartbreaking over-time loss in the first round to get the better of Adelaide Thunderbirds, 68-57.

The 32-year-old scored 34 from 35 attempts and Gretel Bueta chipped in with 15 from 16 while South African Lenize Potgieter led the losers with 28 goals from 31 attempts and Samantha Gooden, 10 from 11 attempts.

Firebirds raced to a 22-15 lead at the end of the first quarter and were up by 10, 38-28, at the break. And, while Thunderbirds hit back 16-14 in the third quarter, Firebirds controlled the contest in the final quarter.

Another Sunshine Girl Shimona Nelson found herself in the spotlight, scoring 40 goals from 43 attempts but her Collingwood Magpies slumped to a 66-54 defeat to Giants Netball at Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney’s Olympic Park.

For the winners, England’s Jo Harten led with 33 from 35 attempts while Sophie Dwyer supported with 21 from 27.

At John Cain Arena in Melbourne, Jamaican defender Kadie-ann Dehaney and Melbourne Vixens went down 56-51 to Sunshine Coast Lightning.