Fowler stars as Fever win second-straight game
MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC) — Jamaican superstar Jhaniele Fowler continued her explosive start to the Australian Super Netball season with another near-flawless effort to pilot West Coast Fever to their second win in as many outings.
Playing at the John Cain Arena here last weekend, Fever pushed back Collingwood Magpies 70-53, with Fowler at the centre of that performance with 58 goals from 61 attempts.
The veteran 32-year-old shot a perfect 64 from as many attempts in the season-opener as Fever stormed to a 82-63 win over Sunshine Coast Lightning two weeks ago.
Behind Fowler’s fireworks last weekend, Fever stormed to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter before commanding a 39-22 advantage at the half.
The second half was closer but Fever maintained a 14-goal lead at the start of the final quarter, 53-39, and out-scored Lightning 17-14 down the stretch.
Fowler’s Sunshine Girls teammate, Shimona Nelson, led the scoring for Lightning, shooting 36 from 40 while Australian Sophie Garbin chipped in with ten from 13 attempts.
At Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney’s Olympic Park, New South Wales Swifts — without injured Trinidadian star Samantha Wallace — crashed to a 48-53 loss to Melbourne Vixens and their second defeat of the season.
England’s Helen Housby scored 19 from 22 attempts and teenager Sophie Fawns chipped in with 14 from 16 attempts, as Swifts trailed from the outset to be down 19-32 at the half-time whistle and not even a final-quarter surge could put them ahead late on.
Malawi’s Mwai Kumwenda led Vixens with 40 goals from 41 attempts.
Wallace, one of the league’s leading shooters, had scored 30 from 31 attempts in Swifts’ season opener two weeks ago when she suddenly went down and played no further apart in the affair as her side lost 55-57 to Giants in the New South Wales derby.
She has since been ruled out of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.