West Coast Fever didn’t run out of legs on the longest road trip in Super Netball, overturning a five-goal half-time deficit to power to a 58-54 win over Sunshine Coast.

But they’ll face questions around the form of Fever captain Jess Anstiss, who was bench for the entire second half, having been sat out of the final term in last week’s loss to Melbourne.

West Coast had a disastrous second term against the Lightning, losing the period 19-13 to face a tough task to escape Queensland with an away victory.

They were clinical after half-time, however, with the win cementing third spot in the standings before a challenging five-day turnaround before they hosting the powerhouse Adelaide Thunderbirds on Friday night.

Former Fever training partner and Diamonds shooter Donnell Wallam threatened to cause an upset for the home side, scoring 47 goals including three vital super goals in a starring performance.

Wallam’s second term was particularly pivotal, scoring 17 of the Lightning’s 19 goals.

Ryan lamented his team’s form late in the second term when they conceded nine goals to three.

“Our first quarter was not too bad. We were a little bit loose in the in the last two minutes of that first quarter, which kind of closed the gap a little bit,” he said.

“And then I think we’re going relatively well in the second quarter, until the last three minutes, where we essentially just became quite reckless and loose at both ends of the court.

“Lightning got their tails up and all of a sudden we’re down by five at half-time. It was a little bit of a wake-up call of the reality but as a group we connected back to (the fact) we were in a similar position seven days ago against the Vixens at half-time where we were slightly struggling and not quite where we want to be, so here’s an opportunity to demonstrate some growth.”

Fever’s full-court defence improved after the main break, with Lightning coughing up a whopping five general play turnovers in the third term alone which the visitors capitalised on.

Wing attack Jordan Cransberg had seven goal assists for the term, while Romelda Aiken-George added 16 goals on her way to 51 for the match as Fever swung the momentum to take a two-goal lead into the final term.

A series of goals midway through the last quarter to Wallam had the scores level early in the super shot period, but the Lightning lacked composure to complete the task.

Fever on the other hand had no such trouble, scoring six of the final eight goals to claim their sixth victory of the season ahead of a tough stretch.

Ryan said they know had to turn their attention to Adelaide given the extremely short break.

“We can travel up to 17, 18 hours just to play this game depending on traffic, when we’re going from on the coach from Brisbane to Sunny Coast,” he said.

“Credit to our group and the fact we just embrace it and no one really complains about it. Never really has, it’s just a part of the process.

“We’ve got a very short turnaround now to the Thunderbirds, so the next two days will be very much rest and recovery for the players one training session before we hit Thunderbirds on Friday.”