A slow start set the tone as the Southern Steel was beaten 62-51 by the Central Pulse in Palmerston North.
It was an impressive display from the Pulse, ending the Steel's 22-match win streak as the sides both backed up after wins first-up on Sunday.
The Steel was outplayed right throughout the court, the Pulse pressuring it into mistakes and creating intercepts.
Indeed, the connections were not quite there for the Steel.
At times it seemed reluctant to let a pass go, other times it was too static and no option was available.
It was not just defence in which the Pulse excelled though - it also brought a slick attack.
Whitney Souness, in particular, delivered some skilful feeds into a dominant Aliyah Dunn.
The 18-year-old goal shoot was playing just her second game for the team, having moved north from Invercargill this year.
She shot 44 from 45 - 91% - rebounding two of her misses.
Her partner, Tiana Metuarau, was just as good at 21 from 22 and connected well with Dunn.
The Steel's shooters received less ball and were less accurate with what they got.
Jennifer O'Connell was generally solid at 85%, although Te Paea Selby-Rickit had a quiet night both in her shooting and work around the circle.
The statistics show they had just one fewer goal attempt, although their 10 rebounds make that number deceiving.
Making their job harder was the Pulse duo of Katrina Grant and Sulu Fitzpatrick, who were active all night and proved disruptive to the Steel's attack.
For coach Reinga Bloxham, it was her first loss as Steel coach, having taken over at the beginning of the winning streak.
She said the side was its own worst enemy.
``It was a tough night,'' she said.
``I think we did it to ourselves.
``We had far too many errors which the Pulse absolutely jumped on and utilised that ball we had lost, so that's a bit disappointing.''
She said the Pulse had played well, doing a good job of disrupting the Steel's flow which made it hard to get its attack going.
The start had been key, the side becoming somewhat rattled after two early turnovers left it chasing the game
``I think 60 minutes is a long time, but obviously we didn't start very well.
``We were down 4-0 straight off the cuff.
``So if you start like that, it can rock the team's confidence.
``I think we were quite hesitant after that and the connections weren't quite there from the beginning and we had to try to establish that again.''
It was a bad pass and a held ball from the normally reliable Shannon Francois that resulted in the Steel turning the ball over off its first two centre pass.
The Pulse capitalised, shooting out to a 4-0 lead, before the Steel was able to finally hit back.
It set the tone and the home side led 16-12 at the first break, extending that to 32-27 at halftime.
That continued in the third quarter, the Pulse edging out to 48-40, before completing the job with an outstanding fourth quarter.
In the games involving the other teams on Sunday, the Mainland Tactics edged the Northern Stars 61-60 and the Pulse downed the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 45-33.
