The match had more twists than a Quentin Tarantino blockbuster and, for most of the match, it appeared as if the Mystics were going to extend their four game losing streak in the ANZ Championship.
The visitors trailed by as many as eight goals during the third quarter, but former Silver Fern centre Temepara George, outplayed for the first 35min, orchestrated a thrilling comeback with some superb pinpoint passes into shooter Cathrine Latu during the the game's final moments.
Latu kept a cool head and, with the match on the line, slotted nine goals from nine in the final period to seal the win.
Earlier, the Mystics had an opportunity to silence the boisterous home crowd when Silver Ferns defender Leana de Bruin grabbed a rebound which the visitors scored off to take a 4-2 lead.
But Steel centre Liana Barrett-Chase came up with an intercept to prevent them capitalising
on their centre pass and stretching the lead to three goals.
With the Steel's slick midcourt pairing of Barrett-Chase and Jenny-May Coffin dominating their opponents, the Steel was able to pile on seven unanswered goals in a devastating spell of superb netball.
Some sharp passing helped put Daneka Wipiiti into space and the 1.94m goal shoot capitalised, nailing 11 of her 12 attempts in the first period.
But the mercurial shooter's accuracy slipped and she made some costly misses later in the game.
With the Steel leading 18-12 at the break, Mystics coach Yvonne Willering reacted by moving Silver Fern Sheryl Scanlan from wing defence to goal defence and de Bruin from goal defence to goal keep.
Out of shape former Silver Ferns goal keep Vilimaina Davu was dumped to the bench, with circle defender Stephanie Bond coming on at wing defence.
The changes helped the Mystics stymie Wipiiti's space and supply of ball.
And, perhaps shocked by its six goal lead, suddenly the Steel looked as though it was defending the lead rather than continuing the onslaught.
Whatever the problem, the Mystics closed to within two, 22-24. An anxious crowd, beating furiously on their thunder sticks, willed the home side on.
Buoyed, the Steel's twin towers of Megan Hutton and Katrina Grant put some pressure on the Mystics shooters and forced a couple of mistakes. That saw the Steel restore its six point margin by half-time.
Not done by a long shot, the Mystics drew to within two goals again as the team clung on, desperately searching for a win.
But following the pattern of the match, now well entrenched, the Steel put on another spurt to pull away, this time clearing out by eight goals before the Mystics rallied and pruned the gap to two.
The plot thickened soon after the break, with the Mystics drawing level 41-41 and then taking the lead by one goal with just under 6min remaining.
It was around about then George, who had been largely anonymous, took control, imposing herself on the game.
But she could not have done it without Latu, whose marvellous shooting helped get the monkey off the Mystics' back.
* In an all-Australian tussle in Newcastle last night, the NSW Swifts lost to the Melbourne Vixens 52-53.
