Sunshine Coast Lightning have consolidated fourth position on the Super Netball ladder with a gritty 66-64 win over the NSW Swifts at Ken Rosewall Arena.
After forging well clear at three-quarter-time on Saturday, the Lightning were forced to stave off two separate fourth-period bursts from the Swifts before prevailing.
Captain Steph Fretwell led a strong frontcourt performance from the Lightning, whose superior shooting (92 per cent to the Swifts' 79 per cent) proved decisive.
"We pushed a lead out then let them back in, so that's something we need to look at," Fretwell said.
"We've had a lot of close games. We don't want to get to the end of the season and think what could have been.
"We want to make sure we create our own destiny.
"We can beat any team in this league, but it's about putting in a full 60-minute performance."
The result stretched the Swifts' losing streak to three, while off the court there is strong conjecture three-time club MVP Sam Wallace-Joseph has played her last game in NSW colours.
The star Trinidadian shooter was a shock omission for last week's clash with the Melbourne Mavericks before sitting out the Lightning clash for "personal reasons".
Wallace-Joseph's management is in dialogue with the club around her future.
Swifts co-captain Maddy Proud starred in her return from a knee injury but it was the Lightning who struck the early blows, leading 20-18 at quarter-time behind their attacking trio of Fretwell, Cara Koenen and Diamonds skipper Liz Watson.
Sunshine Coast's 39-36 halftime advantage swelled to nine goals late in the third period and early in the fourth, with Tara Hinchliffe dynamic in defence and NSW becoming inundated with penalties.
In a fourth quarter full of momentum swings, the Swifts' 7-0 burst pegged the gap to two goals before the Lightning responded with an 8-1 flurry to reclaim their nine-goal advantage.
The hosts then went 8-1 down the stretch but ran out of time in their bid for a miracle finish.
