The Giants have kept their Super Netball finals hopes alive with a hard-fought 70-64 win against Sunshine Coast Lightning.
A pivotal 19-14 fourth quarter proved the difference in Saturday’s fifth-versus-sixth stoush at Ken Rosewall Arena and sealed the Giants’ second successive victory.
Sophie Dwyer enjoyed a grand second half, connecting neatly in the Giants’ shooting circle with Matisse Letherbarrow, who is doing a fine job of filling the big shoes of injured captain Jo Harten.
“It was a game of changing momentum,” Dwyer said.
“We knew it was going to be a grind against them.
“For both teams, it was must-win to keep our seasons alive.”
At the other end, Steph Wood’s accuracy, particularly from long range, was uncharacteristically inconsistent but fellow shooter Cara Koenen enjoyed a fine outing before slipping over late in the match and having to sit out the closing minutes.
Sluggish out of the blocks in last week’s heart-stopping loss to Melbourne, the Lightning silenced the home crowd in the initial stages, bursting ahead 9-3 and forcing Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald to take an early time-out.
Her side, spearheaded by the brilliance of in-form captain Jamie-Lee Price, responded and leapt ahead 16-12 via a 7-0 burst before the Lightning rallied late and tied the scores 16-all at the end of a topsy-turvy opening stanza.
Price was momentarily curbed by Lauren Scherian in the middle after quarter-time but the Giants defensive trio of Amy Parmenter, April Brandley and Lauren Moore lifted, as did shooter Letherbarrow.
Sunshine Coast sprang a surprise by shifting Wood to wing attack to start the second term.
The Lightning skipper, predictably, was moved back into the circle later in the quarter and missed a couple of late super shots but Koenen’s strong offensive rebounding helped put Sunshine Coast up by one at half-time.
Uncompromising wing attack Mahalia Cassidy swapped bibs with Scherian and successfully took over Price’s duties in the centre as the Koenen-led Lightning threatened to take control.
The Giants responded to a 46-42 deficit with another well-executed time-out from Fitzgerald, followed by a 9-4 run.
Dwyer broke away from Karla Pretorius’s shackles before Letherbarrow’s two-pointer in the dying stages gave the Giants a 51-50 three-quarter-time edge and the momentum which they carried throughout the fourth.
In the other game of the day, a dominant second quarter from the Melbourne Vixens set up a big 60-39 win over ladder leaders Adelaide Thunderbirds in Melbourne.
The Vixens excited their home fans, scoring 19 goals to the Thunderbirds 8 in the second term to lead by eight at the main break after the visitors began strongly to lead by three after the opening quarter.
The home side built on the momentum in the second half, keeping the Thunderbirds to just seven goals in the third quarter – the Vixens had a match-winning 46-29 lead at the final change, before finishing things off for a comprehensive win.
For Melbourne, Kiera Austin scored 23 goals from 30 attempts, while Mwai Kumwenda had 21 from 22.
Eleanor Cardwell played a lone hand for the visitors, scoring 21 goals from 24 attempts.
AAP/ABC
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