Southern Steel have capped a miraculous comeback to chase down Central Pulse for a 66-63 overtime ANZ Premiership win at Wellington.
After falling behind early and trailling by as many as 11 goals entering the final quarter, the southerners staged a stunning revival to level the score at 59-59 by fulltime, forcing an extra period.
With coach Reigna Bloxham and key defender Te Huinga Selby-Rickit unable to travel with their team, the Steel maintained their composure through the added six minutes to emerge unlikely victors.
"We left it until the last quarter and made it so hard on ourselves," said captain Shannon Saunders. "We had so many personal errors in those first three quarters, but it was awesome to us individual step up.
"As a unit on defence, they got some amazing ball and they worked so well together. Down on attack, we managed to hold onto the ball."
Pulse shooter Aliyah Dunn slotted seven straight goals in the opening moments to give her team an early 8-1 lead, a margin they still held at the end of the first quarter (18-11).
A catalyst to the turnaround came with Georgia Heffernan's introduction to the Steel shooting circle, replacing Saviour Tui in that first period. Between them, Heffernan and England shooter George Fisher missed just three attempts at goal for the game.
Pulse shooters Dunn and Tiana Metuarau were even more accurate, missing just once each, but as the contest wore on, the Steel enjoyed more possession, either through forced turnovers, intercepts or penalties.
The Steel midcourt managed 103 feeds into the attack circle, with Saunders accounting for 51 of them, compared to the Pulse's 80 feeds, as they outscored their rivals 19-8 in the fourth quarter. Heffernan nervelessly slotted the equaliser in the final seconds, while Fisher hit three straight at the start of overtime to maintain momentum.
After travelling north for a postponed fixture against Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, the southerners were able to refocus when it counted.
"It's been a really tough weekend," said Saunders. "We've been to Rotorua and hung around, waiting to see what was happening, and then came down here.
"We've had a lot going on behind the scenes that not everyone knows about - we're missing a lot of our team back at home, so I'm really happy we could do it for them."
After a round devastated by COVID-19 - this was the only one of four scheduled fixtures played - the Steel have consolidated their grip on second place in the competition with three wins from five outings, still trailling defending champions Northern Mystics (4-1).
The Steel have a chance to close that gap, when they host the Mystics in Invercargill next Sunday, while the Pulse visit the Magic on Monday.
Southern Steel 66 (Fisher 48/50, G Heffernan 15/16, Tui 3/7) Capital Pulse 63 (Dunn 52/53, Metuarau 11/12)
