Central Pulse have thrown a cat among the pigeons, inflicting a 55-53 defeat on Northern Mystics to thrust themselves back in the ANZ Premership playoff hunt.
After suffering a four-game losing slump, the defending champions have now accounted for both Auckland teams in their last two outings to close the competition table up halfway through the season.
Mystics still lead and will continue to do so, whatever else happens this weekend, but two points cover the next four teams, with only three playoff spots available.
The Pulse never trailed, scoring the opening three goals of the contest and building a 10-goal advantage early in the second quarter, but as convincing as they were through the early stages, the Mystics were just as irresistible, closing to within a goal at halftime and leveling soon after the restart.
From that point, the game was anyone's to seize, although Pulse remained ahead throughout and resisted a strong finish from their rivals to grab the points.
Incredibly, they survived a subpar shooting performance from rookie Amelia Walmsley, who just 35/50 attempts. Down the other end of the court, Silver Ferns star Grace Nweke converted 41/44 (93 percent), but the Pulse feeders were able to provide their attack with 17 more attempts on goal.
Central Pulse 55 (Walmsley 35/50, Metuarau 18/20, Mvula 2/5) Northern Mystics 53 (Nweke 41/44, Falkner 11/13, Vui 1/1)
