A spirited performance from T&T international goal shoot Samantha Wallace and her New South Wales Swifts was unable to prevent a 49-63 loss to the Sunshine Coast Lightning in Round 13 at the Suncorp Australian Super Netball League at University of Sunshine Coast, Australia, on Saturday.
As soon as the game was underway it was obvious strong defensive pressure would play a key in deciding the result.
The Swifts were the first to reap the rewards, with Sarah Klau having a great start against Australian Diamond goal shoot Caitlin Bassett, providing the visitors with the first two shots of the game.
However the quarter soon fell into a see-sawing battle with the Lightning falling into step with the Swifts. But the visitors were their own worst enemy at times, throwing away crucial possession which saw them fall behind the host side and a late flurry of consecutive goals set up Lightning to take a three goal buffer into the first break, 15-12.
While the Swifts stayed in touch, the Lightning showed incredible speed across the court—at times catching their opponents off guard when switching from defence into attack.
This was especially damaging early in the second quarter with Lightning putting up five unanswered goals to stretch their advantage.
Despite the deficit, the Swifts defensive unit continued to work hard for every opportunity and as the match approached half-time the visitors began to find their mojo again.
A quick change introduced captain Abbey McCulloch to wing defence, with Paige Hadley moving to wing attack to match up on New Zealand netball legend Laura Langman.
The move seemed to reinvigorate the Swifts who found more movement through the attacking third, but the visitors couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard with Lightning’s prolific scoring continuing to score at will to lead 33-26 at the half-time whistle.
Despite the 23-year-old Toco-born Wallace picking up an injury the Swifts were able to stay with the Lightning for the majority of the third quarter until the hosts began to flex their muscles in the closing minutes to maintain a 47-38 lead at the final break.
Lightning made a few changes for the final quarter and the moves paid dividends as it brought more speed to their attacking third, which saw their advantage grow and in the end the move mattered little as Lightning saw out the match with a comfortable victory,
Wallace ended with 39 goals from 45 attempts for 82 per cent accuracy to improve her season tally to 475 from 533 attempts, fourth best in the competition while Amy Sommerville added ten from 15 in the absence of England international Helen Housby.
For Lightning, star player Bassett returned to top form with 49 goals from 52 attempts, Stephanie Wood got nine from 11 and Cara Koenen, chipped in with five from six attempts.
Bassett is now second in overall scoring with 550 goals from 585 attempts just behind fellow Australian international Caitlin Thwaites of Magpies Netball who leads with 550 goals from 603 attempts. Jamaican Romelda Aiken of Queensland Firebirds is third with 480 goals from 588 attempts.
A week ago, finished with scored 33 goals from 36 attempts and Housby tallied 17 of 17 in a 50-62 loss to Magpies which got a game-high 48 goals from 51 attempts by Caitlin Thwaites, C
The Swifts will return to Qudos Bank Arena for their final match of the season in recent rivals the Firebirds in Round 14 on Saturday.