West Coast Fever hit cruise control early in easing to a 58-44 trans-Tasman netball league win over Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in Tauranga on Monday.
Bouncing back from last week's seven-goal loss to Southern Steel, the Fever dominated right across the court and looked untroubled in racking up their fourth win from six games.
Shooters Caitlin Bassett and Natalie Medhurst were relentless in their accuracy, Bassett finishing with 36 from 40 while Medhurst marshalled play efficiently outside the circle and still managed to sink 15 from 17 shots on goal.
The Magic are sorely missing two key players in Silver Ferns Grace Rasmussen and skipper Leana de Bruin, both struggling with long-term injury.
Without Rasmussen's midcourt nous, intuitive feeding and drive, the Magic couldn't find any consistency in the attacking third.
A lack of accuracy on the pass allowed Fever circle defenders April Brandley and Courtney Bruce plenty of time to shut down the supply of ball into Jo Harten and Malia Paseka.
Fever midcourters Shae Brown and Verity Simmons obliged with slick transition in driving any turnover ball through to Bassett and Medhurst as the visitors powered to 17-11 lead at the first break.
Things only got worse for the home team in a sloppy second spell, won 16-6 by the Fever.
The Magic managed to generate enough turnover ball to be competitive, but looked dire on transition and the Fever's through-court defensive pressure consistently won possession back.
Ellen Halpenny, brought on for Paseka, added little to the shooting circle and with the Fever in front 33-17 at halftime, Magic coach Julie Fitzgerald brought Paseka back and moved Harten out to goal attack.
The Fever still took the third quarter 16-12 to lead 49-29 at the three-quarter mark, allowing coach Stacey Rosman the luxury of clearing her bench for the final 15 minutes.
The Magic hauled back six goals in taking the spell 15-9, but have now gone six matches without a win after last year finishing second in the New Zealand conference.
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