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Maddy Proud's 100th national league game was a memorable one as the NSW Swifts claimed an upset 66-65 Super Netball win against the West Coast Fever.
Maddy Proud's NSW Swifts teammates lined up to honour their captain's 100-game milestone with their 66-65 upset Super Netball triumph against West Coast Fever at John Cain Arena.
Super shots hailed in a frantic second half before the Swifts held possession for the final minute to deny what would have been the flying Fever's eighth straight win.
Fever star Jhaniele Fowler was benched in the closing minutes to allow Alice Teague-Neeld and Sasha Glasgow room to sink a combined four fourth-quarter super shots but it was not enough to save the side from defeat.
National league centurion Proud was peerless with 31 feeds and a handful of deflections.
But it said more about the midcourter that her Swifts teammates played above themselves in a sign of respect and appreciation for the popular skipper.
Sophie Garbin (31 goals) upstaged star defender Courtney Bruce, Sarah Klau stood up to Fowler (47 goals) and the Swifts entire midcourt stifled the in-form Fever feeders.
Garbin attributed the poise shown to recent input from Emma Murray, a high performance mindfulness coach whose clients include the AFL's Richmond Tigers.
"We've done a lot of work on our mental head space and today we were able to show that," Garbin said.
The win against fourth-placed West Coast elevated the Swifts alongside league leaders the Sunshine Coast Lightning on six wins.
It was also a reward for a challenging fortnight during which the Swifts have bounced from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast and to quarantine in Melbourne as the COVID-19 threat affected the fixture.
"It's huge. We knew we had what it took," Proud said.
"Had it gone for another minute it might have gone a different way so I'm just so proud of how we played."
To the casual observer, the sight of Swifts target Sam Wallace on the bench midway through the second quarter would suggest the NSW outfit was in trouble.
That only injected Australian squad member Garbin who torched the Fever with a dream nine-minute shift in the lead-up to halftime.
Garbin's fast footwork troubled Australian goal keeper Bruce, with her 11-goal blitz turning a five-goal deficit into a 35-32 lead at the long break.
Not to be outdone, Garbin's circle partner Helen Housby single-handedly took the game away from the Fever with a perfect three-from-three super shots, seven feeds and an intercept in the third quarter.