West Coast Fever superstar Jhaniele Fowler fell agonisingly short of her own record for most goals in a game, scoring 65 goals in a perfect shooting performance to get the reigning premiers’ season back on track.

Fowler has now scored an incredible 396 goals from 400 attempts at an incredible 99 per cent accuracy at the halfway point of the season, while Fever retained top spot on the ladder with a 74-64 victory over Sunshine Coast Lightning at USC Stadium on Sunday.

The Jamaican star was just five goals short of her record 70 in a game she scored in 2020 with her best performance of the season to date.

Fever were clinical in the first half, with both ends of the court holding their own as they look on track for a convincing win with a 13-goal half-time lead.

The Lightning lifted in the third term to challenge Fever, before Steph Wood (30 goals, seven super goals) hit four super goals late in the quarter to reduce the margin to just seven goals and give the home side a chance of an unlikely victory.

Unfortunately for the Lightning, the life was sucked out of their comeback early in the final quarter when former Fever defender Shannon Eagland went down with what looked to be a serious knee injury.

Mid-courter Jess Anstiss responded to her Australian snubbing with a four-quarter defensive performance, while Alice Teague-Neeld had 33 goal assists as Fever went at 91 per cent in centre pass-to-goal rate.

Fever coach Dan Ryan was full of praise for his team after recording their third win on the road in four weeks.

“I think it’s there (the fatigue), there’s no question about that it’s there but I think it makes today’s performance even more important and even more praising the efforts of the players to have got through the load they have over the last four weeks,” Ryan said.

“Three away games with a lot of back-to-back travel has been challenging and we saw the fatigue creep up last week.

“I thought the ability to grind it out and just tough out the tough times was really important. One more away trip in this hectic five-week block, but we’re in a good position so we take great confidence out of today and do everything we can to freshen up early in the week.”

Fever have little time to rest with a game against last year’s grand finalists Melbourne Vixens at John Cain Arena next Sunday, with their opponents having an extra day’s break and consecutive home games.