Adelaide soar to Super Netball lead with Mavericks win
Sebastian Tan |
The Adelaide Thunderbirds have survived an almighty scare to beat the Melbourne Mavericks 55-51 and reclaim top spot on the Super Netball ladder.
After relinquishing first place with a 56-50 loss to the Melbourne Vixens on April 18, the Thunderbirds had been waiting for an opportunity to return to the summit.
With the Vixens suffering an upset loss to the Sunshine Coast Lightning on Saturday the door swung open for Adelaide, and goal keeper Shamera Sterling-Humphrey powered them into first position by goal percentage.
Sterling-Humphrey (seven gains, four interceptions) and Kiwi Kate Heffernan (27 feeds, 17 goal assists) were typically inspirational for the Thunderbirds (9-1) at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday as they weathered the Mavericks’ second-half resurgence to grab the valuable victory.
Elmere van der Berg grabbed 47 goals from 49 attempts for the Thunderbirds.
“I felt like at times where we could have chug, chug, chug, chugged away, we were rushing,” defender Latanya Wilson, who had three gains, told Fox Sports.
“So at least we were able to … grind back and pull off that win exceptionally well.”
Despite leading by 11 goals midway through the third quarter, Melbourne flicked a switch to claw the deficit back to just one goal in the fourth period.
But the in-form Wilson and Sterling-Humphrey grabbed a flurry of late deflections and interceptions to help Adelaide escape with the victory.
The Mavericks (5-5) needed a win to maintain their breathing room from the bottom four in the eight-team league, but instead lead the fifth and sixth-placed Lightning and NSW Swifts by only a single victory.
With Melbourne looking to secure their first finals appearance, next Saturday’s match against the Sunshine Coast will be crucial in deciding their hopes with just four rounds remaining.
On Sunday, Diamond Jamie-Lee Price was busy for the visitors, posting 34 feeds and 13 goal assists, while attacker Uneeq Palavi made four Super Shots and Shimona Nelson had 22 goals from 23 attempts.
But their efforts weren’t enough as Adelaide kept their 100 per cent winning streak against Melbourne intact.
The Thunderbirds started hot as the Mavericks conceded a spate of late errors to trail by three goals at quarter-time.
Melbourne coach Gerard Murphy questioned whether his team was exhausted in the second quarter as Heffernan dominated the midcourt to help balloon Adelaide’s advantage to 33-24 at the main break.
A pair of third-period Super Shots from Palavi kept the visitors in the contest before the Mavericks capitalised on a series of Thunderbirds turnovers to reduce the deficit.
But Adelaide kept their composure to emerge victori
AAP