West Coast Fever have survived an early injury scare to Courtney Bruce and a furious finish from Queensland Firebirds to chalk up a 73-71 win and remain unbeaten after five rounds of the Super Netball season.
The Fever made a flying start to Sunday's clash at Nissan Arena but were forced to withstand a fierce challenge from the home side as they recovered from 15 goals down in the third quarter to sit on the verge of an improbable comeback victory.
Donnell Wallam drilled a two-point Super shot with eight seconds to play to cut West Coast's lead to two but the defending champions controlled the next centre pass to deny Queensland their first win of the season and spoil the party for veteran Firebirds defender Gabi Simpson's 150th national league game.
"Kudos to the Firebirds because they came at us really hard for the last quarter," shooter Jhaniele Fowler told Fox Sports.
"I reckon we just have to maintain what we did for the first half of the game and ensure that we are ticking the scoreboard over."
The Fever have now won nine consecutive games with their last loss coming at the hands of the Firebirds in round 12 of the 2022 season.
West Coast led 13-6 midway through the first quarter when Bruce collapsed to the floor after tweaking her right ankle, the Fever captain limping to the bench with what appeared to be a serious injury.
But following some treatment and strapping of the ankle, the Australian Diamonds defender returned in the second quarter and played out the rest of the match.
The Fever produced a flawless start to the game to record their highest-scoring quarter of the season, building a 25-15 lead thanks to a dominant 63 per cent time in possession with no general play turnovers.
The Firebirds were able to apply more pressure in the second quarter but a run of four straight goals from Fowler allowed West Coast to extend their advantage to 43-30 by halftime.
Both sides shuffled their lineups to start the second half but it was the introduction of Macy Gardner that sparked the Firebirds to a 21-15 win in the third quarter, the 22-year-old midcourter linking up with Wallam to help the home side stay in the contest.
Leading 58-51 at the start of the fourth stanza, the Fever took an eight-goal lead in the early stages of the Power Five period and then held on for the narrow win after Wallam and Emily Moore combined to fire in five Super shots.
