The Sunshine Coast Lightning showed their determination to secure the last finals spot in Super Netball with a thumping 83-67 away victory over local rivals the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane.
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With the Melbourne Mavericks displacing them from fourth place just before the game at Nissan Arena on Saturday night, the Lightning had to win to regain the spot on percentage.
The Lightning's 16-goal win, based on a strong second-quarter performance, bumped their percentage up from 99.98 to 101.7, while the Mavericks one-goal away victory over the Giants earlier on Saturday put them on 91.58.
Both teams have a tough final-round fixture away from home to a side already sure of a finals spot.
The Mavericks travel to Perth to play West Coast Fever on Saturday, and the Lightning face the Thunderbirds in Adelaide on Sunday.
A Mavericks win would force Lightning to do likewise the following day, but a loss for the Victorian side would almost certainly guarantee Sunshine Coast fourth spot unless they suffered a massive beating.
Defeat extinguished the Firebirds' slim finals prospects.
The Lightning shot at 90 per cent, compared with the Firebirds' 73 per cent.
It took the Lightning seven minutes to take the lead for the first time, and they were ahead by four at quarter-time.
Sunshine Coast ramped things up in the second quarter, outscoring the Firebirds 23-13 to lead 46-32 at the half.
They missed just one of 21 shots in the quarter, while the misfiring Firebirds were off-target with nine attempts.
The Lightning boosted their buffer to 19 late In the third, but the Firebirds fought back to share the quarter.
Queensland couldn't get the deficit below 12 in the final quarter, which they lost by two.
"Our goal was to punish, so to do that this game is a great feeling," Lightning midcourter and former Firebird Leesa Mi Mi told Fox Sports.
It was a tough night for Firebirds' indigenous Diamonds shooter Donnell Wallam, who earlier in the week was backed by Netball Australia after she received a letter containing "disgusting racial abuse".
Wallam shot 31 of 43 and made just one of her seven Super Shots.
Emily Moore (7-of-9 Super Shots) and Tippah Dwan (5-of-7 Super Shots) picked up some of the scoring slack.
Lightning midcourters Liz Watson and Mi Mi tallied 29 and 21 goal assists respectively, and their slick service was capitalised on by shooters Cara Koenen (55/60) and Steph Fretwell (15/17).
"We have still got a lot of improvement, so we've not been our best just yet, so hopefully we can do a nice consistent 60 minutes," Mi Mi said.
Australian Associated Press
