It came out on the wrong side of an 11-2 run after halftime, the key period in the side's 62-57 loss to the Northern Mystics at the North Shore Events Centre last night.
The Steel had trailed 29-28 at halftime and scored to tie that up 20 seconds into the third quarter.
However, at that point it all imploded - for 10 minutes at least.
Turnover after turnover came as the Mystics defence stepped up its intensity and prevented the Steel getting the ball to its shooters.
At the same time, the Steel became rattled, throwing ball away needlessly.
The Mystics were clinical through that period, taking full advantage of the extra possession to jump out to a 41-30 lead.
That was as bad as it got for the Steel.
It began getting its shooters' ball and they duly delivered.
Initially, that meant the tide halted before a run to end the quarter had the Steel back within six late in the quarter.
That continued into the fourth quarter, the defensive pairing of Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit and Abby Erwood coming up with some turnover ball themselves.
However, the Steel was unable to be clinical with it.
It got back within four on several occasions and had its chances to close that even further.
But it was unable to.
Rushed turnovers crept into its game again at crucial stages and the Mystics capitalised on those second-chance opportunities.
Their Silver Fern shooting combination of Maria Folau and Bailey Mes combined to make an impressive 86%.
Goal shoot Jennifer O'Connell was arguably the best on show for the Steel.
She used her strength and took up space well to make herself available close to the goal.
That helped her make 41/46 and the feeders were perhaps guilty of not looking at her enough.
Despite that, it was able to claim a bonus point, which coach Reinga Bloxham said could be crucial.
That did not dampen the disappointment in the performance, though, and in particular the terrible start to the third quarter.
"We know that our consistency hasn't been there for a full 60 minutes," she said.
"In patches we're performing quite well, but when you're playing in a competition as tight as this, and you're playing against quality sides that are hungry for the win as well, you need to be better.
"We just need to be more consistent in our own performance.
"I think that's the thing we're a bit gutted about. We know we could have been better than that.
"A lot of those errors we made were our own personal errors and we just need to be better."
She did admit the Mystics played well and did a good job of disrupting the Steel's flow.
However, she felt poor handling and bad passes were the biggest culprit in the loss.
While that was most notable in the third quarter, it also became apparent at crucial moments during its comeback.
"I feel like we did have a couple of opportunities where we came within a couple of goals," Bloxham said of the fourth-quarter comeback.
"We got some turnovers where we could have perhaps come closer to minimising that lead.
"But we just weren't clinical enough in our turnovers to score.
"So that's definitely something we're going to have a look at."
The Steel plays again on Sunday when it take on the Mainland Tactix in Dunedin.
