This time the Mainland Tactix made sure there was no question.
It exerted its dominance early and never let the gap close as it beat the Southern Steel 48-35 in Auckland last night.
It came a day after the Tactix had been denied a draw against the unbeaten Central Pulse — Te Paea Selby-Rickit’s tying goal going through a second too late.
In contrast, the Steel was unable to repeat Sunday’s effort when it claimed just its second win of the season.
The Tactix was clearly a step up from the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, though.
Its defence was smothering and its attack was clinical.
Getting the ball to the shooters proved challenging for the Steel, particularly in the first half. The new combinations at the attacking end — shooters Kiana Pelasio and Ellen Halpenny are still new to the set-up — are clearly still developing.
That was most notable through the second half of the first quarter during which the Steel managed just two shots as the Tactix went on a 7-0 run to take a lead it would never relinquish.
Jane Watson and Charlotte Elley, in particular, proved disruptive, picking off Steel passes to deprive it of scoring chances.
The Tactix turned those into easy goals at the other, Selby-Rickit and Ellie Bird providing big targets, while Jess Prosser also had a handy stint.
Its accuracy of 90.5% was impressive, but equally impressive was the ease with which Erikana Pedersen and Kimiora Poi fed the ball.
Despite that, the Steel started with confidence and stuck with the Tactix through the early stages.
But loose passes began to creep into the Steel game and the duo of Watson and Temalisi Fakahokotau began to cause problems.
The Steel trailed 6-5 six minutes in and Kalifa McCollin was proving a threat in the shooting circle for the southern side. But it took only two more shots in the first quarter, not scoring again until the final 30 seconds.
It was a key period as the Tactix surged out to a 13-5 lead, its attack clinical and the Steel unable to find its shooters.
The Steel injected veteran shooter Halpenny, a new signing as injury cover, for Pelasio at the beginning of the second quarter.
She had provided a steady influence after coming on in Sunday’s win.
While she was once again reliable, the Tactix continued to pull away.
It doubled the Steel at 20-10 midway through the quarter and, even as Fakahokotau left the court to get her ankle attended to, the dominance continued.
By halftime the score had reached 28-14, at which point both teams made several changes.
The Steel pulled the deficit back to 38-26 at the last break, but the Tactix remained in control.
That continued throughout the final quarter, the Tactix extending the final margin to 13.
The win takes the Tactix to third on the table, one point behind the Northern Mystics, while the Steel remains tied at the bottom with the Magic.
ANZ Premiership
The scores
Tactix - 48
Ellie Bird 32/34, Te Paea Selby-Rickit 10/12, Jess Prosser 5/6, Hannah Glen 1/1.
Steel - 35
Kalifa McCollin 18/21, Ellen Halpenny 17/23, Kiana Pelasio 0/1. Quarter scores: 13-6, 15-8 (28-14), 10-12 (38-26), 10-9 (48-35).
