Close victories for Caribbean stars in Suncorp Super League netball

Written by Leighton Levy. Posted in Netball. | 20 September 2020 | 710 Views
Tags: Netball, Australia, Jhaniele Fowler, New South Wales Swifts, Queensland Firebirds, Romelda Aiken, Samantha Wallace, Suncorp Super Netball, West Coast Fever

Samantha Wallace, Jhaniele Fowler and Romelda Aiken were all winners in Round 13 of the Suncorp Super Netball League on the weekend.

Aiken’s 45 goals helped the Queensland Firebirds defeated league leaders Melbourne Vixens 64-58 in a hard-fought game at the Cairns Pop Up Arena on Sunday. Her teammate Tippa Dwan also scored 13 goals in the victory.

Aiken’s 45 goals came from just 51 attempts and saw the Firebirds lead 18-12 at the end of the first quarter. However, it was the defensive efforts of Tara Hinchliffe and Kim Jenner that led to the win.

The Vixens who were losing only their second game of the season rallied to win the second quarter 19-17 cutting the Firebirds lead at half time. The teams scored 13 goals each in the third but the Firebirds outscored Vixens 16-14 in the final stanza to hold on for their fifth win of the season.

At the same venue on Saturday, Samantha Wallace scored 25 goals and her teammate Helen Housby 22 as the New South Wales Swifts pulled off their eighth victory of the season, defeating Adelaide Thunderbirds 57-54 in a nail-biter.

The Swifts got off to a fast start and led 19-12 at the end of the first quarter. However, the Thunderbird rallied to take the second 16-12 and headed into the break trailing by just two goals.

The Thunderbird carried that momentum into the third quarter outscoring the Swifts 15-12 while taking a one-point lead into the final quarter.

However, the Swifts managed to battle back to outscore the Thunderbirds 15-11 and eke out a close victory.

Jhaniele Fowler was the high-scorer on the weekend with 62 goals as the West Coast Fever battled to a 71-66 victory over the Giants.

All 62 goals were crucial for the Fever who had to battle back from a three-goal deficit at half-time having lost the first quarter 15-17 and edged out 18-17 in the second as Jo Harten and Kiera Austin’s 24 goals apiece threatened to run away with the game.

However, the Fever took the lead in the third quarter, which they won 21-15 and then outscored their rivals 18-16 to close out the close encounter.

Despite the win, the Fever remains third in the standings with 34 points.