Geitz critical in Firebirds one goal win

It was another game that came down to the final seconds, but the Queensland Firebirds stayed cool under pressure to come away with a one goal win over the West Coast Fever in Perth on Sunday, 56-55.
Starting off strong with a pick-up from a bad Fever pass from Jacinta Messer saw the Firebirds take an early lead, but the Fever quickly fought back, setting the tone for the game ahead, which see-sawed between the two teams.
The Fever ended the first quarter ahead 14-12.
Coming out fighting in the second quarter, the Firebirds were keen to take back their lead, by limiting the movement of the Fever.
With the Firebirds’ defence trio of Laura Geitz, Jacinta Messer and Keirra Trompf working hard over the Fever frontline, it saw the Firebirds surge ahead.
At the other end of the court, Fever keeper Susan Furhmann was limiting the passes into Romelda Aiken with goal defence Eboni Beckford-Chambers doubling up on Aiken. Although this limited the feed into Aiken, it worked to the Firebirds’ advantage, freeing up Nat Medhurst to go for goal.
Firebirds coach Roselee Jencke said her key message to the Firebirds attackers going into the second quarter was to find confidence.
“I told them to read the play as it goes and look at the placement of the shooters,” she said.
This advice worked with the Firebirds ending the first half ahead 29-24.
Heading into the third quarter, Jencke kept her starting seven in place with the Firebirds continuing to dominate, despite the Fever fighting back.
“Jacinta (Messer) has been playing really well and training really well,” Jencke said of starting Messer.
“I was impressed with her in the game against the Steel and decided to start her again today.”
Messer was proving to be a physical match for Fever goal attack Cath Cox, but it wasn’t just these two tussling, it was a physical match across the court with the Firebirds coming out on top, ending the third quarter ahead 41-39.
Jencke made just one change heading into the fourth quarter, bringing on Shannon Eagland into wing defence to replace Keirra Trompf.
The Fever started pushing back, equalising the scores. A time-out called by Chelsea Pitman with nine minutes to go saw Jencke bring replacement player Nicola Gray into the game.
Despite bringing in Gray to find space on the court, the Fever took the lead and the Firebirds had to fight back.
A Laura Geitz intercept with 90 seconds to go saw the Firebirds take back the lead. This helped fire up the away side. But again, the Firebirds win came down to a shot from the home side, with just seconds to go with a miss, meaning the Firebirds took the game by one goal 56-55.
Firebirds goal attack Natalie Medhurst said the win came down to Geitz in the end.
“Geitzy took some game-saving intercepts in the end so we are very thankful to her,” she said.
“Every time we play the Fever it is a close encounter and we weren’t expecting anything less today.”
Geitz was humble about her game-changing intercepts, simply saying it was crucial the team came away with a win.
“It’s come down to the wire for us in the last two weeks and this gives us a lot of confidence going into the final rounds,” she said.