Fowler breaks scoring record as Fever beat Swifts
Five-time league MVP Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard has posted an all-time Super Netball record 76-point haul to power West Coast Fever to a 78-69 win over the NSW Swifts.
In front of a new RAC Arena record crowd of 11,267 on Sunday, Fowler broke her own competition goal-scoring record to single-handedly haul the Fever (8-2) into second spot on the ladder, with her massive tally highlighted by a blistering 23-goal second quarter.
It was an emphatic return to form by the world's best shooter, who was held in relative check by Adelaide's Shamera Sterling-Humphrey - arguably the world's best defender - in last week's loss to Adelaide.
"The goal out there was to put on scoreboard pressure through me," said Fowler-Nembhard, who hit her first two shots, missed her third, then nailed her next 73 without blemish, which included one super shot.
"I'm pretty happy that I did that. The Green Army always shows up.
"(For them) to turn up like this today is amazing and it just goes to show how well we're doing here overall in netball in the west."
NSW, last year's runners-up, had no answers for Fowler-Nembhard as they slumped to a fourth successive defeat in what has been a tough period for the club.
The Swifts during the week parted ways with their Caribbean shooter Samantha Joseph-Wallace following a protracted off-court saga.
Joseph-Wallace didn't suit up for the Swifts' previous two matches before being shown the door on Thursday, due to what the club described as "a matter which concerned her behaviour within the team environment".
With co-captain Paige Hadley and Helen Houby prominent in the frontcourt, the Swifts did their best to put the drama in the past and challenged West Coast early.
The Fever led 17-15 at quarter-time before Fowler-Nembhard got on a roll, stretching the gap to 41-26 before Housby's solo 5-0 finish to the half gave the Swifts a faint heartbeat.
Sophie Fawns followed Housby's example in the third term, which she finished with a flurry of two-pointers, limiting West Coast's lead at three-quarter-time to 58-47.
The margin blew out to 20 in the fourth before Fawns led another late long-range rearguard, as the Swifts finished the match with a withering 16-3 spree but never seriously threatened to pinch victory.
