The Southern Steel delivered its best performance of the season to beat the top-of-the-table Central Pulse 51-47 in Invercargill last night.
It was a win built off grit and intensity, the defence outstanding and the attack clinical.
Impressively, it turned around a 31-point loss the previous time the two sides met.
Perhaps more importantly though, it got the Steel back on track after two losses in a row.
That takes the Steel's record to seven wins from 11 games to remain well in contention for a top-three spot.
The Steel trailed midway through each of the first three quarters, but always finished strongly to go into the breaks ahead.
The third was key as it jumped out to a four-goal buffer at the final break which it held in a gritty last quarter.
Defensive duo Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit and Courtney Elliott were outstanding.
They anticipated the Pulse passes to finish with six intercepts between them, as well as several other key deflections.
``They were amazing,'' coach Reinga Bloxham said.
``That defensive pressure right throughout the court was really good and Te Huinga and Courtney were able to pick up some great turnover down there.
``Te Huinga had a great game. Her hands were alive, she was hungry for the ball and she just seemed to get one out of the air when we needed it.''
That set the platform and from there the attack was clinical and composed.
Goal attack Te Paea Selby-Rickit was equally as good as the defenders, while the feeders found their way to the circle edge to deliver quality ball.
Bloxham said the lessons from the side's loss against the Pulse had been key in the turnaround.
``We weren't strong enough last time. We weren't strong on the take and being careful with the ball.
``We knew if we could do those things well tonight we'd be able to come away with the win.
``The other thing we worked hard on this week was adding some variety to our game.
``You get to play each team three times. You have to bring something different, so I thought the girls did that really well.''
The start could not have been more different from the two sides' previous meeting.
Rather than being rattled by the intensity of the Pulse, the Steel rose to it.
It made the Pulse work to get the ball to its shooters and put pressure on them once they got it there.
At the other end, it showed far greater composure in looking after the ball and finding its own shooters.
That helped it take a 12-11 lead to the first break.
That swung again at the beginning of the second quarter, as the Pulse took back the lead and extended it to 19-15.
It held dominance for the majority of the quarter until the Steel defence stepped its game up a notch in the last five minutes.
Elliott and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit each came up with big plays to get the ball back for the Steel and peg back the deficit.
It tied things up at 25-25 late, before Selby-Rickit made it 26-25 20 seconds before halftime.
The Pulse got back in front again, before the Steel scored five in a row to take a 34-30 lead early in the third quarter.
However, that closed up and the Pulse once again leapt ahead.
The Steel were finishing quarters stronger though and that proved the case again.
Its defence again came up with several big plays and two goals in the final 10 seconds of the quarter left it ahead 43-39.
It maintained that lead in a dogged and low-scoring fourth quarter, showing composure to get over the line for a crucial win.
