The NSW Swifts are top of the Suncorp Super Netball ladder for the first time this season after a 68-63 Round 12 win over the Giants at a sold-out Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.
In control for much of the contest, the Swifts survived a huge second-half comeback from their local rivals to play cool, calm and collected netball in the final quarter to see the game out.
With the Adelaide Thunderbirds losing to the Collingwood Magpies last night, it means the Swifts are now four points clear of the South Australians as the race for the Minor Premiership heats up with two rounds to play.
In front of almost 10,000 passionate supporters, game MVP Helen Housby once again demonstrated supreme coolness under pressure to keep NSW from wobbling after the Giants came storming back on the back of excellent Super Shots from Matisse Letherbarrow and Sophie Dwyer.
The Swifts only won two quarters in the contest – the first and last – but the margins by which they did would prove sufficient in the end.
Romelda Aiken-George was an excellent target for feeders Paige Hadley and Maddy Proud with the Jamaican scoring 32 goals, but Housby’s 18 goals from 18 attempts and five Super Shots from seven attempts would prove invaluable.
"That was incredible. That's the loudest I've ever heard it in here," Housby said.
"We've had a lot of different kinds of wins.
"It's a nice feeling we've got as a group that no matter where we're at in the game, it feels like we can grind it out."
In front of their huge home crowd Briony Akle’s troops came racing out of the blocks with Sarah Klau, Maddy Turner and Tayla Fraser looking dynamic and powerful in defence.
Despite the Swifts winning the opening period 25-19 they were unable to push home the advantage in the second with the Giants demonstrating good resolve to level the quarter 12-all and keep only six goals between the sides at halftime.
The derby was immensely physical at times with brave Swifts co-captain Proud putting her body on the line time and time again, and she wasn’t alone with Hadley, Turner and Fraser all putting in hugely impressive shifts.
With Allie Smith and Teigan O’Shannassy ruled out, Akle used Training Partners Lili Gorman-Brown and Kelea Iongi to give her front-liners a breather and the pair did admirably, as did young Sophie Fawns who again proved herself to be one of the best up-and-coming long-range shooters in the world.
A brilliant third-quarter performance from the Giants, a period they won 20-14, had them back on level terms but they couldn’t sustain the effort as the end-game approached.
A Turner rebound would prove to be the key possession gain as the final Power Five approached. It gave the seven-time Premiers the impetus to open up a six-goal advantage once again and force the Giants to score from range.
With the game on the line the Super Shots didn’t drop and the Swifts were there to clean up possession and record an eighth win on the trot, equaling their best winning run since the days of the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship.
Incidentally, the Swifts’ longest winning run since 1997 is 18 matches between Round 1 2006 and Round 2, 2007 in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy era.
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