A week or so ago, Otago's prospects of reaching the semifinals of the national championships looked shaky as best.
But buoyed by a dramatic 58-58 draw with a star-studded Canterbury side at the weekend, Otago has rediscovered the sort of confidence it will need for the business end of the tournament.
"We are stoked with how we are going," coach Deb Tasi-Cordtz said.
"We've made big improvements in every game and we've come along way in the last four weeks. We're really fizzing and there is a really good feeling in the team. So we're really excited about playing Bay of Plenty."
Otago is in fifth place with seven points from four games and must beat Bay of Plenty in its final round-robin game in Porirua today to make the playoffs.
Canterbury (14) leads from Wellington (13), with Southland and Bay of Plenty in a share of third with eight points apiece.
Auckland-Waitakere is winless and cannot make the top four. But if it upsets Southland, and Otago beats Bay of Plenty, Otago would qualify in third place and avoid playing the top-placed side in the semifinals tomorrow.
Bay of Plenty, though, has performed well with wins against Southland and Auckland-Waitakere.
It is a team of battlers rather than stars but Tasi-Cordtz is expecting a tight contest.
"On paper, and in terms of results, we're very similar.
"But we are very confident. We're treating it like our final and we'll be into it."
Shooter Julianna Naoupu is injured but the Bay have some quality players in experienced defender Jodi Todd and shooter Tanya Lund.
Otago's strength is at the attacking end with the Steel pairing Jodi Brown and Te Paea Selby-Rickit. It is a new combination but one which is starting to gel. They both shot well against Canterbury with Brown netting 18 from 20 and Selby-Rickit landing 40 of her 42 attempts.
Tasi-Cordtz was pleased with the improvement in the shooting circle but said her side was working hard on distribution and defence.
"We are bit more of a unit down the shooting end now. They have both started working together rather than pulling against each other.
"But is about being smarter on defence and being more proactive.
"We've been working on our whole court defence and doing the work there so our defence end can come through and get the ball. That is what we did against Canterbury. We slowed them down and forced errors."
