Diamonds trio leads Lightning’s blitz of the Firebirds
Diamonds trio Cara Koenen, Liz Watson and Courtney Bruce led the charge as Sunshine Coast Lightning blitzed Firebirds 72-62 to claim the Queensland Cup and Battle of the Bruce.
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Diamonds trio Cara Koenen, Liz Watson and Courtney Bruce led the charge as Sunshine Coast Lightning blitzed Firebirds 72-62 to claim the Queensland Cup and Battle of the Bruce.
Bruce, playing her 150th Super Netball game, was dynamic in the defensive circle and really proved a menace to Emily Moore and Mary Cholhok.
The keeper had 12 deflections and seven gains.
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Watson controlled the midfield alongside Leesa Mi Mi - her workrate was second to none. The midcourter had 26 goal assists and 19 centre feed receives.
While Cara Koenen didn’t miss a shot all night.
Bruce said it was a fairytale ending for her 150th game especially given all the injury woes she had last year.
“I haven’t been that nervous for a game in a really long time,” Bruce said.
“I think when I get back to the change room there will be a few happy tears but it is definitely really special because there were moments where I thought I was not going to make it. I’m happy to not have the spotlight on me now and to move on to 151 and a big game next weekend.”
Firebirds tried to stay in the fight - but repeated turnovers led to their seventh consecutive loss.
Lightning coach Belinda Reynolds was happy with the performance but said there was still room for improvement ahead of the run to finals.
“We won quite a bit of ball tonight which was great,” Reynolds said.
“The defensive effort across the court was really,really well done. I think there is still room for improvement, the general play turnovers was still too high, but that’s the thing about this team, there’s still growth in this team.”
The two Queensland sides were fairly evenly matched in the first quarter with both teams having the lead at some point.
It really amped up in the Super Shot period with Firebirds swapping out Mary Cholhok for long range shooter specialist Abigail Latu-Meafou.
The move paid off with Latu-Meafou netting two of her three super shots. Lighting’s defence, led by Bruce, worked hard to keep the super shooter away from the long range area. It produced a crucial turnover which led to Steph Fretwell sinking a super shot in the final seconds of the quarter to put Sunshine Coast ahead 18-17 at the first break.
Firebirds defenders Ruby Bakewell-Doran and Isabelle Shearer forced Fretwell and Koenen to get creative in the second quarter - slowing the shooting rate but not halting it.
The damage on the scoreboard could have been far greater were it not for Latu-Meafou netting another two super shots.
But it just wasn’t enough to catch up to the fast-moving Lightning side who took a 37-33 lead into half time.
Lightning really hit the accelerator in the third quarter outshooting Firebirds 20-13 to take an 11 point lead into the final break.
Firebirds staged a comeback in the final quarter, getting some quick goals on the board much to the delight of the 4666 strong crowd at Nissan Arena.
But clawing back an 11 goal deficit in a single quarter was always going to be a big ask.
Firebirds did hang on to win the final quarter 16-15 but Lightning took the game 72-62.
Mi Mi means business
Leesa Mi Mi was everywhere tonight - her darting runs created plenty of opportunities for the Lightning.
Mi Mi had ticked the box in the gains, deflections and intercepts columns on the stat sheet.
She created plenty of opportunities with 14 goal assists.
The agile centre worked really well with Liz Watson - signalling what could become a key link up for the Diamonds in the near future.
Firebirds need a spark
The Firebirds are now on a seven game losing streak and it is going to take a lot to snap them out of it.
We got a glimpse of what the Firebirds can do in the final quarter - where they staged a comeback. But they need to win more than one quarter if they want to get a win on the board.
Firebirds coach Kiri Wills said it was a much improved performance on their clash with the Queensland rivals earlier this season.
“I can’t ask for more from this group they are working so hard in building those connections and the combinations and the strategy,” Wills said.
“Tonight I’m proud of them because I think in that last few games that lack of consistency and dropping off for long periods of time has killed us.
“Whereas tonight I felt lke they got themselves back, the Sunny Coast didn’t have the moments they had in Round 3.
“They pushed us to the floor and rubbed our faces in it last time and we were not going to let that happen tonight.”
Firebirds midcourter Imogen Allison said that final quarter win could be enough to snap their losing streak.
“The more connected we feel the better and that last quarter we did feel really good, we had loads of patches in that game where we felt like we were adapting.
“It is really important for us to take how we felt in that last quarter into training this week.”
Wills acknowledge being on a long losing streak was tough to handle. But said this squad had the mentality to do it.
“It does suck, anyone who’s been in this position knows how bloody hard it is get up every day and keep doing the world but they’ve continued to be focussed on the process,” Wills said.
FEVER END SWIFTS’ STREAK
The NSW Swifts unbeaten run through the 2025 Super Netball season has been brought to a screeching halt by West Coast Fever, who dismantled the ladder leaders by 11 points in front of 8500 fans in Sydney.
The top of the table clash was a huge turnaround from their last match up, where in the absence of Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard, Fever went down by 18 points.
Post match, English star Helen Housby rued the Swifts’ loss, but believed it would help their title chances.
It might be the best thing for us,” Housby said.
“You want to win every game, but going through a season only winning can bring up some problems.
“I was a bit hit and miss, I love taking the super shots but we also need to win the 10 minute game which we didn’t do tonight.”
After running goal for goal in the early stages of the match, Fever shot out to a six point lead at the first break.
They continued to apply scoreboard pressure with a polished performance that saw them give up just ten turnovers and record a gain to goal rate of 75 percent.
In a highly physical match both sides relied on their dominant shooters, with Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard finishing with 71/72 to earn MVP, compared to Grace Nweke’s 48/59.
Slightly rattled by pressure, Nweke’s accuracy faltered to 80 percent, but she unveiled a new tactic, spending significant amounts of time in the two point zone trying to draw penalties for super shot specialist Housby to take.
The English star had a better outing under the post than last week, finishing with 12 goals including eight supershots.
She nailed her two-pointers every time Fever threatened to pull away, but needed a spray from coach Briony Akle.
With Fever pushing the lead out in the final term, Swifts faltered and coach Akle rang the changes.
The huge number of substitutes - 21 positional switches for the match - seemed to unsettle her side as they recorded their lowest volume in the final term.
While the result may be held up as a blueprint for other sides to conquer the Swifts, they are still one game clear at the top of the ladder, while Fever’s victory will boost their confidence and see them hold onto second place.
WEST COAST WARRIOR
In a clip shared on Netball Australia’s website, West Coast Fever star Kadie-Ann Dehaney revealed that she lost her parents and siblings as a child.
She was then brought up by her grandmother, who also passed away a couple of years ago.
Despite facing such multiple tragedies, the courageous Jamaican continues to perform at the highest level, representing her country as well as Fever.
HEALTHY HABITS
The HCF Health Score is a new concept this year that measures how a team is tracking, by including a wide range of statistics from goals scored through to defensive prowess. Interestingly, the Fever have increased their score every week since Round 1 (other than an outlier in Round 3), while the Swifts have been on a downhill trajectory since Round 5.
POST PERFORMANCE
It’s been fascinating to watch Helen Housby’s form at the post, as she settles into sharing a shooting circle with dominant goaler Grace Nweke.
Overall, Housby’s one point shooting is on a downhill trajectory, recording her equal lowest tally last week.
What makes her so lethal however is her two point shooting, which has trended in the opposite direction. She banged on 8/15 in today’s match against the Fever.
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