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Loss puts Fever on road for finals

Loss puts Fever on road for finals

West Coast Fever will play Friday’s Australian conference elimination final in Sydney after going down to NSW Swifts 63-56 in front of a record crowd of 9703 at Perth Arena.

The result means Swifts replace West Coast in second on the Australian ladder and force them to travel for their first ever final in the ANZ Championship.

The match was extremely tight until late in the third term, when the star-studded visitors pulled away in an intense contest.

NSW captain Kimberlee Green did not line up after pulling up with a sore calf from training, while Erena Mikaere was trusted to start on goal shooter Caitlin Thwaites.

Thwaites shot 35 goals from 40 attempts, while Susan Pettitt also managed 28 from 29 against her former teammate April Letton.

Caitlin Bassett managed 44 from 51 in a tough battle with Sharni Layton, with Nat Medhurst kept to 12 from 15 by fellow Australian Diamond Julie Corletto.

Fever captain Ashleigh Brazill took her place in centre despite a huge fall in last week's game and was at her inspirational best.

Fever forced a turnover within the opening seconds but gave it straight to allow the visitors to a hot 3-0 start.

They fought back to force it to 5-5 and the teams went goal for goal until Medhurst missed a difficult attempt and Swifts took full toll to make it 17-12 at the first change.

West Coast launched a spirited comeback in the second quarter and got back to just one goal down before Brazill called a time out five minutes due to back soreness from last week’s big fall against Adelaide.

Fever gave the ball straight back at the resumption but still managed to draw back within one with seconds remaining in the quarter. A long bomb from Medhurst which would have levelled the scores just bobbed out.

The teams went goal for goal early in the third before a Fever turnover with just minutes remaining allowed Swifts to break the margin back out to four at the final change.

Josie Janz-Dawson came onto Thwaites in the final term.

Fever got plenty of opportunities to trim the margin early in the last quarter but could not take advantage with possession, continually giving the ball back to the Swifts and letting them off the hook.