Central Pulse have resurrected the defence of their ANZ Premiership crown, toppling Grand Final rivals Nothern Stars 58-44 to snap a four-game slump.
Two of those previous defeats were one-point squeakers, while another was 59-51 to the Stars, whom they beat for their third title in four years last June.
Confronted by injuries, Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie was forced to call former Silver Ferns captain Katrina Rore out of retirement to make up numbers last week, but her squad were back to somewhere near full strength for this encounter at South Auckland's Pulman Arena.
The visitors were never headed, winning the first three quarters, leading 31-19 at halftime and extending their margin to 18 goals over the final minutes.
Five unanswered goals in the opening period set the champions on their way, and they duplicated that effort shortly before halftime and again the fourth quarter to underpin their dominance.
"That feels so good," admitted Pulse co-captain Kelly Jury. "Good to finally hold out composure at the end.
"We had some good conversations this week about how we deal with those high-pressure situations, so great we were able to put out a score like that.
"We've been putting out some great netball all season, it's just been those last five minutes or so, or little patches in the game, when the pressure came on, we would fold and not talk to each other. We just knew, if we kept the comms up and keep the eye contact going, we could keep those connections."
Shooter Amelia Walmsley continued her breakout season for the Pulse, while goal attack Tiana Metuarau complemented her volume with faultless 13/13 support. Stars captain Maia Wilson returned an outstanding 32/34 at the other end of the court, but simply did not have enough ball to work with.
At the defensive end, Jury and Kristiana Manu'a limited the Stars to just 49 shots, while the home team also ended up on the wrong side of a 75-53 penalty count.
Now locked in a threeway battle for second on the table, the Pulse will visit competition leaders Northern Mystics next Saturday, while the Stars have a chance to bounce back against Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic on Easter Monday.
Central Pulse 58 (Walmsley 44/52, Metuarau 13/13, Mvula 1/1) Northern Stars 44 (Wilson 32/34, Malesala 9/12, Hume 3/3)
