Impressive Silver Ferns advance to final

Needing to win, the Silver Ferns progressed to tomorrow’s final after producing a quality 68-59 win over the Mixed Invitational on day three of the Cadbury Netball Series in Auckland on Friday.

 

A place in the final against NZ Men was at stake for both teams tonight, the character of the Silver Ferns shining through with their resilience and ability to subdue an impressive Mixed team who provided the perfect challenge.

With the importance of needing to win this match, the Silver Ferns, after mixing and matching in their previous outings, relied on a more settled line-up for this one.

Shooter Maia Wilson and defender Sulu Fitzpatrick were given the opportunity to further press their credentials at goal attack and goal defence, respectively.

Suffering a minor knock and sitting out yesterday’s match as a precaution, lofty shooter Grace Nweke returned to the line-up while speedy midcourter Whitney Souness continued her transition into the centre role.

Both played influential roles with Nweke nailing 46 of her 50 attempts before going to the bench with six minutes left in the game.

With the speedy Australian duo of Kelsey Browne and Laura Scherian shoring up the midcourt, there was plenty of punch provided on attack for the Mixed team in the opening exchanges. And with a height advantage of 20cm between shooter Quintin Gerber and the Silver Ferns tallest in Kelly Jury, the objective was clear, the Mixed team intent on getting the ball into his reliable hands.

The Silver Ferns held the slightest of edges during the opening stanza, Jury and Fitzpatrick doing enough to slow the Invitational’s flow on attack while, with little game time under her belt, Nweke was a model of composure, confidence and accuracy. Comfortable in mixing her range of shots, Nweke helped steer the Silver Ferns to a 17-13 lead at the end of a high-scoring first quarter.

For the first time in the series, the Silver Ferns made no changes at the break, while midcourter, and game-day captain, Maddy Gordon and shooter Georgia Heffernan made their entrance for the Mixed team.

On the back of fine feeding from Gina Crampton, and the ever-impressive Souness, the tall figure of Nweke continued her strong showing during an enthralling second stanza.

Gordon also made her presence felt and provided a damaging partnership with Scherian in the midcourt while wing defence Stefan Swartz was an effective spoiler. With more ball getting into the hands of the imposing Gerber, who converted 24 for from 25 for the half, and the scores tightening, Fitzpatrick made way for Phoenix Karaka.

The Mixed Invitational briefly hit the front, a strong reply pushing the Silver Ferns into a handy 36-31 lead at the main break with Nweke nailing 28 from 30.

The Mixed team continued to challenge forcefully during the opening salvos of the third quarter but the Silver Ferns impressed with their patience and ability to hold on to the ball. Eventually, that paid a price on the Mixed team.

More and more comfortable playing on the wing, Wilson was ever-prominent with her centre pass receives and second phase play while also chiming in to help Nweke with the scoring duties, and getting plenty of success from range.

At the other end, Jury and Karaka made their presence felt with a strong defensive showing, snaffling intercept opportunities while making life difficult for the Mixed shooters.

The growing connection between Souness and Nweke blossomed, the Silver Ferns erasing the one-goal margin of the previous quarter with an impressive third quarter shift to push out to a healthy 55-44 lead at the last turn.