West Coast Fever have secured a Super Netball finals berth and kept their top-two hopes alive with a 71-66 win over Giants in Cairns today.

Fever were heavily challenged by a desperate Giants in the first half, as the NSW team looked to keep their slim finals hopes alive.

Key performances from defenders Courtney Bruce (10 gains and 10 deflections) and Olivia Lewis (six gains and three intercepts) changed the game in the second half, as Fever claimed their eighth win of the season and sixth in their past seven games.

Fever captain Bruce dominated the game early, happily leaving shooter Jo Harten (34 goals) to disrupt Giants’ connection between midcourt and attack with five deflections.

Giants began to change the angles of their feeds late in the quarter and caught Bruce out of position, allowing them to consistently find a free shooter in the circle as they scored eight of the last 10 goals.

This saw Giants take a handy two-goal lead into quarter time and forced Fever coach Stacey Marinkovich to reshuffle her line-up.

The move of Verity Charles (35 feeds and 24 goal assists) to wing attack saw Fever begin to create better chances for Jhaniele Fowler (64 goals) against the tough defence of goalkeeper Sam Poolman.

But once again Giants caught Fever’s defence out on the two-goal shot and a late flurry saw them lead 35-32 at the main break.

Both teams went goal-for-goal in a tight start to the third term, until Fever found inspiration in an unlikely source.

Young defender Lewis came into goalkeeper, sending Bruce to goal defence, with Lewis changing the entire dynamic of the game with two big intercepts and three gains.

Lewis and Bruce became offensive defenders, intercepting errant passing and forcing the Giants to second-guess themselves when going forward.

Fever’s confidence grew on the back of their pressure across the court and Fowler made sure she took the most of her chances, with Kaylia Stanton (seven goals) beginning to chip in as well.

Come the final term Bruce lifted again with five gains and two intercepts for the quarter to ensure her team claimed the big victory.

Marinkovich said she needed the entirety of her team today to get over the line and seal a finals berth.

“We needed different sparks, different types of energy and the different styles that each individual player brings to attack Giants style of play,” she said.