Fowler fireworks in vain as Fever toppled from top spot

MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC):

JAMAICA INTERNATIONAL Jhaniele Fowler kept up her relentless scoring but West Coast Fever were knocked off the top spot in the Australian Super Netball Championship after suffering a surprise defeat to Melbourne Vixens.

Playing at the John Cain Arena on Sunday, Fever went down 74-73 after finding themselves trailing 37-35 at the half, to record only their second defeat of the season.

Fowler, the league’s leading shooter, finished with 48 goals from 49 attempts but was unable to stop Vixens avenging a similar one-goal defeat in the opening round of the season.

For the winners, Mwai Kumwenda led with 45 from 50 attempts, the Malawi international crucially knocking down super-shots (two-goal attempts) at the close of the second and third quarters.

She was supported by Kiera Austin, who scored 23 from 29 attempts and also produced the decisive action in the contest with a superb super-shot on the final buzzer.

Fever trailed by five early in the contest but rebounded to be down by only two, 18-16, after the end of the first quarter before finding themselves still in touch at the break.

They had the better of the exchanges in the third quarter, coming away with a narrow 54-53 lead, before drama unfolded in the final quarter.

In Sunday’s other game at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, another Sunshine Girl, Romelda Aiken-George, starred helping her side come out on the right end of the result, as New South Wales Swifts took down Sunshine Coast Lightning, 67-63.

Aiken-George led with 38 goals from 47 attempts while Helen Housby was perfect with 15-from-15 shooting.

Cara Koenen scored 37 goals from 42 attempts for Lightning who featured Sunshine Girls defender Kadie-Ann Dehaney in their lineup.

Swifts trailed by two after the first quarter but hit back strongly to eke out a 35-34, one-point lead at the break, before coming up with another sterling effort in the third quarter to outscore Lightning 18-15, and be ahead 53-49 at the start of the final quarter.

On Saturday, also in Sydney, Sunshine Girls’ defender Shamera Sterling played a key role in stifling Giants shooters as Adelaide Thunderbirds carved out a 54-50 victory, to move top of the league.

Thunderbirds squandered a three-goal halftime lead to be down 40-41 at the end of the third before charging back in the final quarter to outscore Giants 14-9.

In the other game played Saturday at Nissan Arena in Brisbane, Collingwood Magpies, with Jamaican defenders Shimona Nelson and Jodi-Ann Ward, suffered a 73-67 defeat at the hands of Queensland Firebirds.