The NSW Swifts have handed the Melbourne Vixens their first home loss of the Super Netball season, with a 70-62 victory sending a warning to their rivals ahead of the looming finals.
With three rounds to play before the four-team play-offs, the Swifts used super shot accuracy to pile on the points in an impressive display in Sunday's game at John Cain Arena.
The Sydney-based team kept the Melbourne crowd mostly quiet, leading at every break to deliver their first home loss.
They were in front 39-32 at half-time and led by 16 points heading into the final quarter, and while the Vixens won that final term it proved too large a lead to peg back.
Swifts goal attack Helen Housby finished with 19 goals from 21 attempts while Romelda Aiken-George contributed 29 from 34 and Sophie Fawns 12 from 16 as they shared the shooting duties.
Fawns' haul included seven two-point super shots, while Housby bagged three.
Shooting at only 77 per cent, the Vixens mixed up their line-up to try to stem the supply but the Swifts seemed to have an answer for everything.
On the back of the win the Swifts moved to 34 points, trailing the ladder-leading Adelaide Thunderbirds only by points differential, and are now six points clear of West Coast Fever and the Vixens on 28.
Named player of the match, England international Housby shot at 100 per cent from the one-point range while she had 18 goal assists.
"To be honest I just play what's open and Didi (Aiken-George) quite often is open as a tall target under the post, and then we bring Fawns on and she can keep shooting the twos. I like being able to assist my other shooters,' Housby told Kayo.
"It feels good to have a good performance but I'm really proud of that team performance, especially that third quarter."
Housby said her team was determined to try to lock down a top two spot to earn a double chance in the finals.
"It's huge - we saw that the T-Birds got the win yesterday and we want to solidify our spot in the top two so we can get two chances to get to the grand final.
"We've definitely got stuff to work on - in the last quarter we were 20 ahead and finished only eight (ahead) so we can definitely be a lot better and will have to be for finals."
