Shooters Helen Housby and Sam Wallace-Joseph starred as the NSW Swifts rebounded from a heavy first round loss with a 67-56 home win over Super Netball newcomers the Melbourne Mavericks.
The efficiency and accuracy of Trinidadian Wallace-Joseph (38/38) and English star Housby (7/9 in two-point shots) and a heavy penalty count thwarted the Mavericks' hopes off a first victory.
After making all eight of her Super Shots last week, Housby hit her first six of her two-point attempts at Ken Rosewall Arena on Sunday.
The Mavericks, who lost their opening game by seven, were hit with a whopping 75 penalties - 47 in the first half.
NSW led by as much as 17 in the third quarter but the Mavericks got back to within nine late in the match.
The new club won the third quarter by two and the last by one, with Gabrielle Sinclair marking her 50th game by netting seven of her eight two-point attempts.
Coming off a 16-goal first-round loss to Sunshine Coast, the Swifts never trailed in their first home game of the campaign, leading by eight at quarter-time and 14 at the half.
“We were super disappointed last week against Lightning, so we had a really tough week at training,” Swifts defender Sarah Klau told Fox.
“We wanted to come out really strong this game and we came out firing, but obviously a little bit disappointing In that second half.”
Mavericks coach Tracey Neville felt her midcourt was putting too much pressure on their shooters and starving them of possession in the first half, in which the visitors scored just 23 - to the Swifts' 37.
“There were parts in that game we were exceptional and we did so well, we just weren’t able to consistently keep backing that up.” Neville said.
