Silver Ferns shooter Maria Folau has helped Adelaide break a losing streak lasting almost two years, with a 61-60 home win over West Coast in the opening round of Super Netball season.
The Fever were ahead by two points in the final quarter, when star goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler (51 from 51) went down with an ankle injury and spent the remaining seven minutes sidelined at Priceline Stadium.
The new-look Thunderbirds line-up looked dominant from that point, allowing the Fever just three more goals, while scoring six of their own to end the club's sorry sequence of 27 losses in a row.
Star recruit Falou (24 from 31) stepped up in the game's most crucial moments, while goal shooter Sasha Glasgow looked equally impressive, with 37 goals from 47 attempts.
The game was the first for the Thunderbirds under new head coach Tania Obst, after Dan Ryan was dumped near the end of last season.
Obst said she didn't feel the team got lucky, just because Fowler was sidelined in the deciding minutes.
"It would have been interesting if she was still out there, but I think that we went ahead, we just sort of let them get back in there at the end," she said.
"We've kept them to 60 goals... to keep them there. Defensively, I think we did a pretty good job."
While she said the win was encouraging, Obst conceded there was still plenty to be done.
"There's some really good gameplan execution that we did and there was some stuff that we probably need to tidy up," she said.
The Fever felt the loss of goal attack Natalie Medhurst, who moved to Collingwood, after last year's Grand Final loss.
Fever captain Courtney Bruce had an injury scare, coming off clutching her hand in the dying seconds of the first quarter.
She returned in the second, but spent time on the bench during the remainder of the game.
The Fever host the Sunshine Coast Lightning next Sunday, while the Thunderbirds will take on the NSW Swifts in Sydney.
AAP
