Thunderbirds go as Fever fails to rise

A dogged defensive display from Adelaide has ensured the Thunderbirds opened their account in the trans Tasman netball championship in Perth last night, the visitors beating West Coast Fever by 13 goals at Challenge Stadium.

Defenders Mo'onia Gerrard and Geva Mentor set the tone for the round two game that resulted in a comfortable 54-41 victory for the Thunderbirds.

With goalshooters Kristen Hughes and Natalie Medhurst splitting the defence at the other end of the court it was the visiting team's hunger and second half control that kept the Fever on the backfoot after the halftime break.

Hughes and Medhurst shot a remarkable 87 per cent, with Hughes landing 25 of her 32 shots and Medhurst 29 of her 30.

Caitlin Bassett scored four consecutive goals to give the Fever a four-goal advantage midway through the opening term.

Bassett sparkled with 32 goals from 33 attempts, while shooting partner Nikala Smith made eight of her 16 attempts and Tracey Pemberton one of her three.

The Thunderbirds responded with three straight goals of their own to keep the Fever's run under control.

Opposing centres Natalie Von Bertouch and Ingrid Dick were driving forces behind keeping it a two-goal game, in the Fever's favour, at the first break.

The Thunderbirds took the lead for the first time in the game at the seven-minute mark of the second quarter and held a two-goal advantage at the main break.

Alex Clarke replaced Emily Beaton at wing attack to start the third quarter and her pace and penetration helped the visitors open up a seven-goal lead after seven minutes, while Gerrard took her run to wing defence where she replaced Mandy Edwards.

After Agbeze was helped from the court when she injured her left calf with four minutes left in the quarter, the Thunderbirds broke open an eight-goal lead and maintained that momentum to lead by seven at three quarter time and were never headed from there.

After the game Thunderbirds captain Natalie Von Bertouch said it had been a focus of the team to play a tight, defensive game.

"We wanted to play tight one-on-one defence and we stuck to the game plan tonight," she said.

"It is a tough 60 minutes when you play like that," she said.

Fever captain Stacey Rosman said her team really wanted to get the result on the board in their first home game of the season.

"We played two good quarters but you have to play four so we'll learn from that," she said.

- AAP