Both Otago teams discovered that as the National Basketball League's inaugural 3x3 competition concluded in Invercargill on Saturday.
After an impressive first two days, the Otago Nuggets were upset in their quarterfinal.
They lost a tight match to the eventual champion Southland Sharks 21-18, becoming one of three higher-seeded men's teams to lose their quarterfinal.
The Otago Gold Rush upset the Canterbury Wildcats 17-15 to reach the semifinals.
There they were beaten 21-16 by the Harbour Breeze — an improved showing after losing 21-5 to the Breeze two days earlier.
The Gold Rush trailed 11-6 midway through its quarterfinal.
But two-pointers to Zoe Richards and Tara Clement helped begin a comeback.
It clawed its way back as fatigue showed for the Wildcats, who were playing without a sub after star guard Tessa Morrison was injured on the first day.
Defensively it began to get stops, Aleisha Ruske prominent in that regard.
At the same time it slowly clawed its way back, hitting the lead with a minute to play,
A slow start left it chasing their semifinal 12-1, as it could not get its offence going against Harbour.
However, Clement found her range and began hitting from deep to rally back.
Harbour was able to do enough to hold off the comeback, though, reaching 21 to secure the win.
The Gold Rush was then beaten 21-7 in its third-placed playoff against New Zealand Select.
Meanwhile the Nuggets were undone by the shooting of Sharks guard Alonzo Burton.
The game remained close throughout, neither team able to pull away.
The Nuggets had led 10-7 after Sam Timmins finished a superb pass from Richie Rodger.
However, Burton began to heat up at that point.
He helped the Sharks reclaim the lead, before a Hyrum Harris two-point play made it 16-12.
Rodger hit a pair of two-pointers to give the Nuggets a late chance, but it was unable to prevent Dom Kelman-Poto scoring the winning lay-up.
Perhaps with a point to prove, the Nuggets put in two dominant displays after that, against the Taranaki Mountainairs and Franklin Bulls.
They beat each 21-10 and 21-12 respectively to finish fifth.
The Sharks continued their final-day run of form.
They first beat the Auckland Huskies 21-17 in the semifinals, before edging the Hawke's Bay Hawks 21-19 in the final.
The Sharks had led 19-15 in the final, before two Derone Raukawa two-pointers brought the Hawks back level.
But Burton again showed his range and hit a match-winner from the top of the arc.
In the women's final, Casyn Buchman hit a late two-pointer to secure an 18-16 win for the Auckland Dream over the Harbour Breeze.
