The Southern Steel is about 10 minutes away from a place further up the competition table.
That is about how long the team eased off during its 59-56 defeat in the grudge ANZ Championship match against the Central Pulse in Palmerston North last night.
What used to be just another fixture has morphed into a more keenly contested game after former Steel coach Robyn Broughton popped up in Wellington two years ago following the Steel's controversial decision to advertise her position.
Several key players eventually joined Broughton, including Liana Leota, Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit and Donna Wilkins, and the Pulse has been transformed from an easy-beat to what some critics believe is a team with playoff potential this season.
Broughton has now coached the winning team in all 11 games between the teams - eight wins with the Steel and three with the Pulse - and still has many loyal fans in Invercargill and Dunedin.
But for the first 35 minutes the Steel looked more than capable of causing a minor upset. It is just that the next 10 minutes went horribly wrong with the Pulse outscoring the Steel 13-3. Normal service resumed after that.
The Steel had a couple of opportunities to force extra time or even win in the dying moments had it not been for the meddling of two former Steel players in Katrina Grant and Selby-Rickit. They both won the ball back for the home side when the Pulse got the wobbles.
Broughton reinforced the game plan when her side was trailing 32-30 at halftime.
The plan was simply to put pressure on Jodi Brown and the home side spent much energy trying to shut down her superb passing game. The Silver Ferns shooter has being amassing assists at a rapid rate this season with the 1.98m Jhaniele Fowler the grateful recipient of some quite extraordinary feeds.
Centre Phillipa Finch has also found Fowler to be a rather easy target, and the pair had combined for 16 assists by halftime. But it was perhaps the Steel's defensive effort which arguably accounted for the two-goal lead.
Broughton brought Joline Henry on at wing defence in place of Victoria Smith. Herny's arrival was meant to spark the home team but instead it was the Steel which seized the initiative with a five-goal run.
Fowler just does not miss often and, when she does, she gobbles up the rebound. She scored 47 from 52 attempts in another excellent performance.
The gap ballooned to seven goals but the Pulse rallied with a five-goal run of its own. All that pressure on Brown started to pay off.
The Steel's attack end suddenly lacked the polish of the opening 35 minutes. The momentum had really shifted as the Pulse outscored the Steel 13-3 to take a 46-43 lead into the final 15 minutes.
The game was still in the balance but the Steel could not win the key moments. With two minutes left, Grant and Selby-Rickit stole back ball the Steel had worked hard to turn over.
ANZ Championship
The scores
Pulse 59
Caitlin Thwaites 33/37, Donna Wilkins 26/28)
Steel 56
Jhaniele Fowler 47 from 52, Jodi Brown 9/10)
First quarter 17-16, halftime 30-32, third quarter 46-43.
