Housby heroics not enough as Vixens shoot to fourth
Murray Wenzel |
The Melbourne Vixens have defied a “lethal” Helen Housby to topple the ladder-leading NSW Swifts and move into Super Netball’s top four.
Sophie Garbin powered the Vixens’ 70-68 win while player-of-the-match Jo Weston dominated defensively to inflict a second-straight defeat on the Swifts.
It was party time on Sunday at John Cain Arena when Weston’s long-range assist in the third quarter swelled the lead to 11 goals.
But English star Housby was dealing in pairs, the veteran nailing eight-of-nine super shots to drag her side off the canvas.
Her sixth got the margin back to four goals with three minutes to play, Housby then nailing two more on successive plays to make it a two-goal game in the final 30 seconds.
From the restart Weston was then called for a held ball, but Swifts replacement shooter Sophie Fawns missed a super shot that would have levelled the game.
“I’m happy we got that in the end … the super-shot shooting from Helen and Sophie is just lethal,” Weston said.
“It was a real team effort and I was proud of our attack, they were really smart and worked the ball, drew penalties when they needed to and finished it off.”
A fourth-straight Vixens (6-4) win allowed them jump the Thunderbirds (5-5) into fourth with four regular-season games to play.
“Just being really chaotic and having fun out there,” Weston said of their intent.
“We’ve been trying to emphasis the work rate and decision making … we weren’t seeing the option because we weren’t working for each other.”
Earlier, Garbin (47-of-49 attempts) and Austin (17-of-19 with 26 assists from 28 feeds) had spearheaded the Vixens’ charge, the hosts forging clear after scores had been locked at 20-20 early in the second quarter.
While assured of a finals berth, the Swifts’ (8-2) loss came a week after Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard’s 71 goals for the West Coast Fever ended their eight-game winning start to the season.
AAP
