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A Jhaniele Fowler objective on the siren has handed reigning Tremendous Netball premiers West Coast Fever a dramatic 62-61 victory over Melbourne Vixens in a high-quality begin to the brand new season.
The rematch between final season’s grand finalists at Perth’s RAC Area went right down to the wire earlier than Fowler capped a 55-goal effort with the game-winning shot as time expired to ship the house crowd right into a frenzy.
With Australian Diamonds defender Jo Weston (calf) and Rahni Samason (leg) lacking by way of harm, the Vixens confronted a troublesome job to topple the defending champions however fought again from a six-goal deficit to attract degree in an exhilarating closing quarter.
A two-point objective from Melbourne attacker Kiera Austin tied the rating at 61-61 with 40 seconds to play however the Fever held their nerve within the dying seconds as they allowed the clock to run down earlier than discovering Fowler underneath the publish to seal the victory.
“It was very intense … good job by the Vixens as a result of they actually introduced it to us in that final 5 to 10 minutes of the sport however congrats to my women, we held on and didn’t let it get to us,” Fowler stated.
Taking cost of the Vixens for the a hundred and fiftieth time as head coach, Simone McKinnis shuffled her common midcourt lineup to assist cowl the lack of Weston with Hannah Mundy incomes a begin in wing assault.
Fowler imposed her will on the opening quarter with a 16-goal begin to assist the Fever create a 17-12 buffer, Austin managing to keep away from one other harm for Melbourne regardless of showing to twist her ankle in an ungainly fall.
McKinnis introduced former West Coast defender Liv Lewis into the competition within the second quarter and the transfer paid dividends because the Vixens made an 8-3 begin to attract degree earlier than the aerial power of Courtney Bruce halted Melbourne’s momentum.
The Fever went into halftime forward 32-28 because of a mix of wayward Vixens taking pictures (80 per cent within the first half) and changing all 5 positive aspects into objectives.
The Vixens made a late run within the third quarter to cut back West Coast’s result in 48-46 however their hopes of a well-known highway win seemed dashed when defender Emily Mannix left the court docket early within the closing interval because of a head knock.
However Mannix was capable of return to the motion and each groups went objective for objective by way of the tense closing minutes earlier than Fowler broke Melbourne’s hearts along with her match-sealing objective.
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